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TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Tachnical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notan  tachniquev  at  bibiiographiquaa 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


n 

D 
D 

n 

n 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagde 

Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pelliculAe 

Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  g^ographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Re\\6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  ser/ee  pciut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdns 
lors  dune  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  te).te, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemptaire 
qu'il  lui  a  At*  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cat  exemplaire  qui  sont  paut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  raproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  mAthode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


I~~|    Coloured  pages/ 


D 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommag^os 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restauries  et/ou  pelliculAes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe( 
Pages  ddcolor^es,  tachet6es  ou  piqu^es 

iges  detached/ 
iiges  d6tach6es 


f~n    Pages  damaged/ 

I      I    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~P^   Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

□    Pages  detached/ 
Pa 


0Showthrough/ 
Tir 


firansparence 


□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Cliialiti  indgale  de  I'impression 

□    includes  supplementary  material/ 
C 


Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


y 


Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires; 


This  is  a  photoreprnduction. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  filnr.6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


/ 

i 

12X 

16X 

20X 

24X 

28X 

32X 

The  copy  filmed  here  ha*  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of-, 

Moritiet  Library 
University  uf  Ottawt 


L'exentplaire  film*  fut  reproduit  grlce  it  la 
gAnirositi  de: 

Bibliothique  IMoriiiet 
UniveriitA  d'Ottawa 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  Iceeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Las  images  suivantes  ont  AtA  reproduitas  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  netteti  de  I'exempiaire  filmA,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 


Original  copies  In  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  Illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  bacif  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimie  sont  fiimAs  en  commengant 
par  le  premier  f  let  et  en  terminant  soit  psr  la 
dttjTni^re  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinta 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  fiimis  en  commenqant  par  In 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  telte 
empreinte. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  — ^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED "),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 


Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ►  signlfle  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signlfle  "FIN". 


Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  cne  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  6tre 
film^s  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  fiimd  A  poirtir 
de  Tangle  sup6rieur  gauche  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  Is  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagram nes  suivnnts 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


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EVOLUTIONISI 


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HUMBOLDT  LIBRARY 


or 


Popular  Science  Literature. 


No.  20.    Vol.  II.]      NEW  YORK  :  J.  FITZGEUALI)  Si,  CO.      [Fiktkkn  Cknts. 


Mov>iiib«r,  INHl, 


KuUrail  »l  Ihn  Now  Yurk  I'utl-Ulflca  b  iJ«cuD(l-Clu>  M*tt«r.  (I.tu  |wr  Yrntr  (!  J  Nuiiib«r>). 


THE  EYOLnTlOKIST  AT  LARGE. 


BY    GRAI^T    ALLEN. 


PREFACE. 

TiiESK  essays  orif^inaily  appeared  in 
the  columns  of  the  St.  James's  Gazette, 
and  I  have  to  tliank  the  courtesy  of  the 
editor  for  kind  permission  to  republish 
them.  My  object  in  writing  them  was 
to  make  the  general  principles  aiid 
methods  of  evolutionists  a  little  more 
familiar  to  unscientific  readers.  Biol- 
ogists usually  deal  with  those  underly- 
ing points  of  structure  which  are  most 
really  important,  and  on  which  all  tech- 
nical discussion  must  necessarily  be 
based.  But  ordinary  people  care  little 
for  such  minute  anatomical  and  physio- 
logical details.  They  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  interest  themselves  in  the 
fiexor  pollicis  longus,  or  the  hippo- 
campus major,  about  whose  very  exist- 
ence they  are  ignorant,  and  whose 
names  suggest  to  them  nothing  but 
unpleasant  ideas.  What  they  want 
to  find  out  is  how  the  outward  and 
visible  forms  of  plants  and  animals  were 
produced.  They  would  much  rather 
learn  why  birds  have  feathers  than  why 
they  have  a  keeled  sternum  ;  and  they 
think  the  origin  of  bright  flowers  far 
more  attractive  than  the  origin  of  mono- 
cotyledonous  seeds  or  exogenous  stems. 
It  is  with  these  surface  questions  of  ob- 
vious outward  appearance  that  I  have 


attempted  to  deal  in  this  little  scries. 
My  plan  is  to  take  a  simple  and  well- 
known  natural  object,  and  give  such  an 
explanation  as  evolutionary  principles 
afford  of  its  most  striking  external 
features.  A  strawberry,  a  snail-shell, 
a  tadpole,  a  bird,  a  wayside  flower — 
these  are  the  sort  of  things  whicli  I  have 
tried  to  explain.  If  I  have  not  gone 
very  deep,  I  hope  at  least  that  I  have 
suggested  in  simple  language  the  right 
way  to  go  to  Avork. 

I  must  make  an  apology  for  the  form 
in  which  the  essays  are  cast,  so  far  as 
regards  the  apparent  egotism  of  the  first 
person.  When  they  appeared  anony- 
mously in  the  columns  of  a  daily  paper, 
this  air  of  personality  was  not  so  obtru- 
sive :  now  that  they  reappear  under  my 
own  name,  1  fear  it  may  prove  some- 
what too  marked.  Nevertheless,  to  cut 
out  the  personal  pronoun  would  be  to 
destroy  the  whole  machinery  of  the 
work  :  so.  I  have  reluctantly  decided  to 
retain  it,  only  begging  the  reader  to 
bear  in  mind  that  the  /  of  the  essays  is 
not  a  real  personage,  but  the  singular 
number  of  the  editorial  we. 

I  have  made  a  few  alterations  and 
corrections  in  some  of  the  papers,  so  aa 
to  bring  the  statements  into  closer  ac- 
cordance with  scientific  accuracy.  At 
the  same  time,  I  should  like  to  add  that 


[flOj 


THE   EVOLUTIONIST   AT   LAUdE. 


1  lmv(^  intentionally  Hlni|)lillc(l  the  Rci- 
ontitlt'  fuclK  UH  far  hh  |>oMHil>It>.  TIuih, 
inHtftid  of  ttayin;;  that  tli*'  (rroiindt^ct  ix 
a  ooMiitoHito,  I  liavu  Haiil  tliiit  it  in  a 
<Iaisy  liy  fiiinily  ;  and  iiistciul  of  Haying 
that  th(t  aMi'idian  htrva  hi>h>ng.s  to  tho 
Hiih-kinixtloin  C'honhita,  1  have*  waid  that 
it  is  H  tirsl  cousin  of  tho  tadpolo.  I'ov 
t\n'M\  HiniitHtications,  I  hu[iu  t(M-hni<'al 
Lioh)(;i.>»tH  will  pardon  mo.  After  all, 
if  you  rtish  to  ho  understood,  it  is  hest 
to  speak  to  people  in  words  whose  in(>an- 
in^^s  they  know.  I)otinito  and  a(!(Mirate 
terminology  is  necessary  to  express  deti- 
nitu  and  accurato  knowledji^o  ;  hut  one 
may  use  va;;uo  cx|)ressi()nrt  where  the 
UcHuito  onoa  would  convey  no  ideas. 

G.  A. 


I. 

MICI108COIMC    HRAINS. 

RiTTiNo  on  this  little  rounded  ho88  of 

f;neiss  heside  the  path  which  cuto  '>'>.. 
iijuely  throiiijh  tho  meadow,  I  am  en- 
gaged in  watching  a  hrigado  of  ants  out 
on  foraging  duty,  and  intent  on  secur- 
ing for  the  nest  three  whole  segments 
of  a  deceased  earthworm.  They  look 
for  all  the  world  like  those  busy  compa- 
nies t>ne  sees  in  tho  Egyptian  wall-paint- 
ings, dragging  homo  a  huge  granite 
colossus  by  sheer  force  of  hone  and 
sinew.  Every  muscle  in  their  tiny 
bodies  is  strained  to  the  utmost  as  they 
prise  themselves  laboriously  against  the 
great  boulders  which  strew  the  path, 
and  which  are  known  to  our  Brob- 
dingnagian  intelligence  as  grains  of 
sand.  Besides  the  workers  themselves, 
a  whole  battalion  of  stragglers  runs  to 
and  fro  upon  the  broad  line  which  leads 
to  the  headquarters  of  the  community. 
The  province  of  these  stragglers,  who 
seem  so  busy  doing  nothing,  probably 
consists  in  keeping  communications 
open,  and  encouraging  the  sturdy  pullers 
by  occasional  relays  of  fresh  workmen. 
I  often  wish  thatl  could  forawliile  get 
inside  those  tiny  brains,  and  sec,  or 
rather  smell,  the  world  as  ants  do.  For 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  to  these 
brave  little  carnivores  here  the  universe 
is  chietly  known  as  a  collective  bundle 
of  odors,  simultaneous  or  consecutive. 


Ah  (»ur  world  is  mainly  a  world  of  vis- 
ible objects,  theiru,  I  believe,  is  mainly 
a  world  of  olfai'tible  things. 

In  the  iiead  of  every  «»ne  of  these  lit- 
tle creatures  is  something  that  we  may 
fairly  m\\  a  brain.  Of  rourstt  most  in- 
sects have  no  real  brains  ;  tho  nervo- 
Mubstanee  in  their  hea<ls  is  a  mere  (;ol- 
lection  of  ill-arrangtid  ganglia,  directly 
eoiine(;ted  with  tlutir  organs  of  sense. 
Whatever  man  may  be,  an  «'arwig  at 
least  is  a  conscious,  or  rather  a  semi- 
conscious, automaton.  He  has  just  a 
few  knots  of  nerve-cclls  in  his  little 
»ate,  each  of  which  leads  straight  from 
lis  dim  eye  or  his  vaguo  ear  or  his  in 
detinite  organs  of  taste  ;  and  his  muscles 
obey  the  promptings  of  external  sensa- 
tions without  pot  sibility  of  hesitation  or 
cotisideration,  as  mechanically  as  tho 
valve  of  a  steam-engine  obeys  the  gov- 
ernor-balls. You  may  say  of  him  tridy, 
"  Nihil  est  in  intellectu  (juod  non  fucrit 
in  sensu  ;"  and  you  need  not  even  add 
tho  Leibnitzian  saving  clause,  "  nisi 
ipso  intellectus  ;"  for  the  poor  soul's 
intellect  is  wholly  deficient,  and  the 
senses  alone  make  up  all  that  there  is  of 
him,  subjectively  considered.  But  it  is 
not  so  with  the  highest  insects.  They 
have  something  which  truly  answers  to 
the  real  brain  of  men,  apes,  and  dogs, 
to  the  cerebral  hemispheres  and  tho 
cerebellui'i  which  are  superadded  in  us 
mammals  upon  tho  simple  sense-centres 
of  lower  creatures.  Besides  tho  eye, 
with  its  optic  nerve  and  optic  perceptive 
organs — besides  the  ear,  with  its  similar 
mechanism  —  wo  mammalian  lords  of 
creation  have  a  higher  and  more  genu- 
ine brain,  which  collects  and  compares 
the  information  given  to  the  senses,  and 
sends  down  the  appropriate  messages  to 
the  muscles  accordingly.  Now,  bees 
and  flics  and  ants  have  got  much  tho 
same  sort  of  arrangement,  on  a  smaller 
scale,  within  their  tiny  heads.  On  top 
of  tho  little  knots  which  do  duty  as 
nerve-centres  for  their  eyes  and  mouths, 
stand  two  stalked  bits  of  nervous  mat- 
ter, whose  duty  is  analogous  to  that  of 
our  own  brains.  And  that  is  why  these 
three  sorts  of  insects  think  and  reason 
so  much  more  intellectually  than  bee- 
tles or  butterflies,  and  why  the  larger 


THK  EVOMTTIONIHT  AT   LAROK. 


I'll!  3 


I    tho 


part  of  ihoin  Imvn  orffi»n!zo<l  their  <l<i. 
liK'Htiir  Hri'aiii.>;ciiiciitit  on  hiicIi   an  cxct'l- 

Ictlt  CO-OlMTJitiVf   [llilll. 

Wo  know  wril  )>iioii<r)i  wliat  fonns 
tlio  main  niatcrial  of  tlioui;lit  with  ti«M'i 
ami  tlics,  and  tliat  Ih  visihh;  oltjcctH, 
Kor  yoii  iniiHt  tliinL  alunit  sowrl/niii/  if 
von  think  at  all  ;  and  you  can  hardly 
nna<{ino  u  contuinplative  l>li>w-Hv  Hot- 
tin;^  its(!lf  down  to  rcHttct,  liko  a  flindn 
dcvotot',  on  tlio  Kylhililo  Oni,  or  on  tlu! 
ononoHS  of  oxiKtiinco.  Ahstract  idoan 
Mi'  not  likely  to  play  a  larj^c  part  in 
a[iian  consciousncas.  A  hoe  has  a  vory 
pcrft'rt  vyv,  and  with  tliisoyn  it  can  hoc 
not  only  form,  hut  also  color,  as  Sir 
John  Lnlihock's  cx[»orimonts  have  shown 
ns.  Tiio  information  which  it  ^ots 
through  its  eye,  coupled  with  other 
ideas  derived  from  touch,  smell,  and 
taste,  no  douht  makes  up  tho  main 
thinkaltlc  and  knowablo  universo  as  it 
reveals  itself  to  tho  apian  intellivj;eneo. 
To  ourselves  atjd  to  bees  alike  tho  world 
is,  on  tho  whole,  a  colored  picture, 
with  tho  notions  of  distance  and  solidity 
thrown  in  by  touch  and  muscular 
effort  ;  but  sight  nndotibtedly  plays  the 
first  part  in  ft)rming  our  total  concep- 
tion of  things  generally. 

What,  however,  forms  tho  thinkable 
universe  of  those  littlo  anta  running  to 
and  fro  so  eagerly  at  my  feet  ?  That  is 
A  (piestion  which  used  long  to  puzzle 
me  in  my  afternoon  walks.  Tho  ant 
lias  a  brain  and  an  intelligence,  but  that 
brain  and  that  intolligonco  must  have 
been  developed  out  of  something.  Ex 
nihilo  nihil  fit.  You  cannot  think  and 
hnow  if  you  have  nothing  to  think 
about.  The  intelligence  of  tho  bee  and 
tho  fly  was  evolved  in  tho  course  of 
their  flying  about  and  looking  at 
things  :  the  more  they  flew,  and  the 
more  they  saw,  tho  more  they  knew  ; 
and  tho  more  brain  they  got  to  think 
with.  But  the  ant  does  not  generally 
fly,  and,  as  with  most  comparatively 
unlocomotivc  animals,  its  sight  is  bad. 
True,  tho  winged  males  and  females 
have  retained  in  part  the  usual  sharp 
eyes  of  their  class — for  they  arc  first 
cousins  to  tho  bees — and  they  also  pos- 
sess three  littlo  eyelets  or  ocelli,  which 
are  wanting  to  the  wingless  neuters. 


Without  thoKO  they  would  never  have 
found  one  another  in  their  courlhhip, and 
they  Would  havu  run  their  heads  againnt 
tho  nearest  tree,  or  rushetl  down  tho 
gaping  throat  of  the  tiiMt  expectant  swaU 
low,  and  NO  etTectually  extinguisheil 
their  race.  Flying  aiiimaU  cannot  d>) 
without  eyes,  and  tlu^y  always  possess 
tho  most  highly  develiiped  vision  of  any 
living  creatures.  iJut  the  wingless  neu- 
ters are  almost  blind — in  some  species 
(|uito  SO  ;  and  Sir  John  Lubbock  hiut 
sh»twn  that  their  appreciation  of  color 
is  mostly  (^onKned  to  an  aversion  to  red 
light,  and  a  conipiirative  endurance  of 
blue.  Moreover,  they  are  apparently 
deaf , and  n>ost  of  their  other  senses  s(!cni 
littlo  developed.  What  can  be  the  rav 
material  on  which  that  pin's  head  ri  a 
brain  sets  itself  working  i  Kor,  small 
as  it  is,  it  is  a  wonderful  organ  of  intel- 
lect ;  and  though  Sir  John  Lubbo(rk  has 
shown  us  all  too  dccihivcly  that  tho 
originality  and  inventive  genius  of  ants 
have  been  sadly  overrated  by  Solomon 
and  others,  yet  JMrwin  is  probably 
right  none  tho  less  in  saying  that  no 
more  marvellous  atom  of  matter  exists 
in  tho  universo  than  this  same  wee  lump 
of  microscopic  nerve-substance. 

My  dog  trrin,  running  about  on  the 
path  there,  with  his  nose  to  the  ground, 
and  snitHng  at  every  stick  and  stone  he 
meets  on  liis  way,  gives  im  the  clew  to 
solve  tho  problem.  Grip,  as  Professor 
Ooom  Robertson  suggests,  seems  ca- 
pable of  extracting  a  separate  and  dis- 
tinguishable smell  from  everything.  I 
have  only  to  shy  a  stone  on  the  beach 
among  a  thousand  other  stones,  and  my 
dog,  like  a  well-bred  retriever  as  ho  is, 
selects  and  brinsjs  back  to  mo  that  in- 
dividual  stone  from  all  the  stones 
around,  by  exercise  of  his  nose  alono. 
It  is  plain  that  Grip's  world  is  not 
merely  a  world  of  sights,  but  a  world 
of  smells  as  well.  lie  not  only  smells 
smells,  but  he  remembers  smells,  ho 
thinks  smells,  ho  even  dreanis  smells, 
as  you  may  see  by  his  snifting  and 
growling  in  his  sleep.  Now,  if  I  were 
to  cut  open  Grip's  head  (which  Heaven 
forfend),  I  should  find  in  it  a  corre- 
spondingly big  smell-nervo  and  smell- 
centre — an  olfactory  lobe,  as  the  anato- 


4  |(1'J 


Tin:   i:V()f,i:TI()NWT   AT   LAU<»E. 


iiiiHtK  my.  All  tlin  iicniuiiiiliitctl  tmsal 
(■\|i('rii'tic(>N  III'  liiM  iiiict'HtorM  liHVn  Miit<l)i 
tliut  lolic  ciioi'inoiiMly  <l«>v«-lo|i<>t|.  Itiil 
in  a  iiiiitrH  lu'ud  y«iU  woul<i  tltul  h  very 
liir^it  ami  tiiio  optic  ccritri',  iiml  oniy  ii 
iiicri'  Hlirivclicd  vvVw.  t<>  rojirt'^nit  tim 
olftii'tiiry  1(>1)(»«.  Voii  iiiiil  (  ami  our 
HiiccHturs  liavo  liiul  luit  littli;  o<M-aHioii 
for  siiiltlti^  Hiid  HC('iit.iti){  ;  our  Hit;lit  iiiid 
our  toui-li  Iwivo  dotiu  duty  uh  cliiof  Iti- 
tcllijit'iifcrs  finiu  l\u'  outer  worlil  ;  and 
tlio  iicrvcHof  Niucll,  witli  tlu'ir  coiiiUMfcd 
rt'ntrcH,  liavo  witlicrt'd  away  to  the  dr- 
(joiioratc  «'ojiditioii  in  wliiili  they  now 
urc.  ('otiHtMjUi'titiy,  HUH'll  plavH  l»iit  a 
Hiiiall  part  in  our  tliouL(litaml  our  nioni- 
<»ri('s.  The  world  that  wo  know  i« 
chictly  a  world  of  sights  and  touclu's. 
]'ut  in  tho  Itrain  of  doj;,  ortlcor,  or  an- 
ti'lopo,  Hiiii'll  in  H  prevailing  facidty  ;  it 
colors  all  thoir  idoas,  and  it  han  in- 
nunicrahlo  ticrvoiiH  conniiclions  with 
ov(!ry  part  of  thoir  hrain.  Tho  hi>{ 
olfactory  lohcs  are  in  (liroct  coniniuni- 
cation  with  a  thounand  othor  nerves  ; 
odors  rouse  trains  of  thouifht  or  pow- 
erful emotions  in  their  minds  just  aH 
visible  olijects  do  in  our  own. 

Now,  in  the  do-^  or  tho  horse  sight 
and  smell  are  equally  developed  ;  so 
that  they  probably  think  of  most  thinf^s 
about  e({ually  in  terms  of  each.  In 
ourselves,  sight  is  highly  developed, 
and  smell  is  a  mere  relic  ;  so  that  wo 
think  of  most  things  in  terms  of  sight 
alone,  and  only  rarely,  as  with  a  rose  or 
a  lily,  in  terms  of  both,  lint  iji  ants, 
on  the  contrary,  smell  is  highly  de- 
velopi'd  and  sight  a  inero  relic  ;  so  that 
they  probably  think  of  most  things  as 
Rinellaltlo  only,  and  very  little  as  visible, 
in  form  or  color.  l)r.  IJastian  has 
shown  that  bees  and  buttertlies  are 
largely  guided  by  scent ;  and  though 
he  is  certainly  wrong  in  supposing  that 
sight  has  little  to  do  with  leading  thcni 
to  flowers  (for  if  you  cut  off  tho  bright- 
colored  corolla  they  will  never  discover 
tho  mutilated  blossoms,  even  when  they 
visit  others  on  tho  same  plant),  yet  the 
mere  fact  that  so  many  flowers  art 
Ecentcd  is  by  itself  enough  to  show  that 
perfume  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the 
matter.  In  wingless  ants,  while  the 
eyes  have  undergone  degeneration,  this 


high  Hense  t)f  Hiiiell  has  been   continu'^d 
ami  furtliet'  d«'\eloped,  till  it  liaH  become 
their  priiieipitl    m  iiHe-endownieht,   and 
tlu'  chief  raw  material   of  their   intelli- 
gence.     Their  active    little    brains   are 
almost   wholly   engaged   in   correlating 
and   co-ordinating  hmu'IIh  with   actionn. 
Their  olfactory  nervengive  them  nearly 
all  tho  information  they  can  gain  about 
the  external  world,  and  their  brains  take 
in  this   information   and  work  out  the 
iM'oper  movements  which  it  indicates. 
Ily  smell  they  lind  tlu  ir  way  about  and 
carry   on   tlu!   busim-ss  of   their   lives, 
•lust  as  you  and   I  know  the  road  from 
licgent's  (Circus  to  I'all   Mall  by  viHible 
signs  of  thostreet-c«>riiersand  the  Duke 
of  York's  Column,  »o  these  little  antH 
know   the  way    from   the  nest    to   thu 
corpse  of  the   dismembered   worm  by 
observing  and  reniendiering  tho  smellH 
which    they    met  with   on    their   wny. 
See  :  I  obliterate  tho  track  for  an  inch 
or  two  with  my    stick,  and   the  little 
creatures    go    beside    themselves  with 
astonishment  and  dismay.     They  rush 
about  wildly,  intpiiring  of  one  another 
with  their  antennio  whether  this  is  really 
Doomsday,    and     whether     tho    whole 
course  of  nature  has  been  suddenly  rev- 
olutiojiized.     Then,  after  a  Hh«)rt  con- 
sultation, they  determine  u[)on  action  ; 
an<l  every  ant  starts  otf  in    a  different 
<lircction  to  hunt  the  lost  track,  head  to 
the  ground,  exactly  as  a  pointer  hunts 
tho  missing  trail  of   a   bird   or  hare. 
Kach  ventures  an   inch   or  so  off,  and 
then  runs  back  to  find  tho  rest,  for  fear 
ho  should  get  isolated  altogether.     At 
last,  after  many  failures,  ono  lucky  fel- 
low hits  upon  tho  well-remembered  train 
of   scents,    and   rushes    back,    leaving 
smell-tracks  no  doubt  upon  the  soil  bo- 
hind  him.     Tho  message  goes  quickly 
round  from  post  to  post,   each  sentry 
making  passes  with  his  antenntu  to  the 
next  picket,  and  so  sending  on  tho  news 
to  tho  main  body  in  tho  rear.     Within 
five  minutes    communications    aro  re- 
established,   and   tho   precious   bit   of 
worm-meat  continues  triumphantly  on 
its  way  along  tho  recovered  path.     An 
ingenious  writer  would  oven  have  us  be- 
lievo  that  ants  possess  a  scent-languago 
of  their  own,  and  emit  various  odors 


KVOl.UTroNIHT   AT   r.AlUJK. 


[0:ij  0 


rnntinu'<(l 

unit,   aiitl 
L>ir   itiU'llt- 
ItruiiiH  jirc 
.'orrcliitiii^ 
li   lu'tioiiii. 
ii'Mi  ticiii'ly 
{uiii  itlioiit 
)niiiiN  tiikd 
k  out  tliu 
iiitlicatcH. 
ulxMit  and 
K'ir   livcM. 
I'oad  from 
l>v  viKil»l(> 
till!  Duke 
littlu  aiitH 
Ht   tu   tlio 
worm  by 
ho  hiik'IIh 
lifir   way. 
>r  an  inch 
thu  littlu 
.'IvcH  with 
Mk^  ru8h 
ti  aiiothor 
H  in  really 
10   whole 
li'iily  rev- 
hort  con- 
action  ; 
different 
head  to 
|cr  hunt8 
or  hare, 
off,  and 
for  fear 
»er.     At 
icky  fel- 
ed  train 
leaving 
soil  bc- 
quickly 
sentry 
Q  to  the 
JO  news 
Within 
are  ro- 
bit  of 
fintly  on 
h.     An 
us  be- 
inguagc 
s  odors 


from  their  antrnnrr  which  the  other  ant* 
[MTceivo  with  thfirn,  and  re«'o^iii/u  an 
di><tirii't  ill  iiM'aiiiiii;.  Ili>  tlii<<  iih  it  may, 
you  iiiiinot  diiulit,  if  you  wuli'li  tlu-iii 
loni;,  tliat  HceiitH  and  KccntH  alone  form 
tin'  ••liicf  mi'aiiH  by  whiihthcy  ri-coili-ct 
and  know  oint  another,  or  the  external 
objeets  with  whieli  they  eomo  in  eon- 
taet.  The  whole  universe  is  clearly  to 
them  a  I  nm|ilicated  picture  matle  up 
entirely  uf  intinitu  interfuHing  MmelU. 

II. 

A    WAYHIliK    nKUIlV. 

IIai.k-iiiiiokv  in  the  luxuriant  growth 
of  leaven  and  llowern  that  drapo  the 
deep  Hide  of  thin  green  lane,  I  have  just 
eHpied  a  little  picture  in  miniatunt,  a 
tall  wild  strawberry-Mtalk  with  three  full 
red  berries  standing  out  on  its  graceful 
branchlets.  There  are  glossy  hart's- 
tongues  on  th<!  matted  bank,  and  yellow 
hawkweeds,  and  bright  bunclies  of  red 
eam[iion  ;  but  somehow,  amid  all  that 
wealth  of  sliapo  ami  color,  my  eye  falls 
and  rests  instinctively  upon  tho  three 
littlo  riubly  berries,  and  upon  nothing 
else.  I  pick  tho  single  stalk  from  the 
bank  and  hold  it  here  in  my  hands. 
Tho  origin  and  developn>ei\t  of  these 
pretty  bits  of  red  pulp  is  one  of  the 
many  curious  <|uestions  upon  which 
modern  theories  of  life  have  cast  such  a 
sudden  and  unexpected  tlood  of  light. 
What  makes  tho  strawberry  stalk  grow 
out  into  this  odd  and  brightly  colored 
himp,  bearing  its  small  fruits  imbedded 
on  its  swollen  suifaco  ?  Clearly  the 
agency  of  those  same  small  birds  who 
have  been  mainly  instrumental  in  dress- 
ing tho  haw  in  its  scarlet  coat,  and 
clothing  tho  spindle-berries  with  their 
twofold  covering  of  crimson  doublet 
and  orango  cloak. 

In  common  language  wo  speak  of  each 
single  strawberry  as  a  fruit.  But  it  is 
in  reality  a  collection  of  separate  fruits, 
the  tiny  yellow-brown  grains  wliieh  stud 
its  sides  being  each  cf  them  an  individ- 
ual littlo  nut  ;  while  the  sweet  pulp  is, 
in  fact,  no  part  of  tho  true  fruit  at  all, 
but  merely  a  swollen  stalk.  There  is  a 
white  potcntilla  so  like  a  strawberry 
blossom  tliat  even  a  botanist  must  look 


clonely  at  the  plniit  before  he  cim  be 
Mure  of  itM  iijentitv.  While  they  ant  in 
tlower  the  tMo  heaiU  remain  almost  in- 
diHtinguinliable  ;  but  when  the  M>ed  be 
gins  to  set  the  poteiitilla  developH  only 
a  collection  of  dry  fniillet-*,  Heated  upon 
a  green  receptacji",  the  l>ed  or  woft  ex- 
pansion which  liaiiijs  on  to  the  "  hull  " 
or  calyx.  Kac  h  fruitlet  consiHts  of  n 
thin  covering,  incloning  a  solitary  seed. 
Vou  may  compare  oiii>  of  tliem  separately 
to  a  plum,  with  its  HingU;  kernel,  only 
that  in  the  plum  the  coveritc.^  U  thick 
and  juicy,  while  in  the  potetitilla  and 
till!  fruitlets  of  the  strawberry  it  is  thin 
and  dry.  An  almond  comes  still  nearer 
to  the  mark.  Now  the  poteiitilla  shows 
us,  as  it  were,  the  primitive  form  <tf  the 
strawberry.  Hut  in  tht!  ileveloped  ripe 
strawlterry  as  we  now  lind  it  the  friiitl"ts 
aro  not  crowded  upon  a  green  recep- 
taclt!.  After  llowcsring,  the  strawberry 
receptacle  lengthens  and  broadens,  so  jis 
to  fortn  a  roundish  mass  of  succulent 
pulp  ;  and  as  tho  fruitlets  approach  ma- 
turity this  sour  green  pulp  becomes 
soft,  sweet,  and  red.  The  littlo  need- 
like  fruits,  which  are  the  important 
organs,  stand  out  upon  its  surface  like 
mere  specks  ;  while  tlio  comparatively 
unimportant  receptacle  is  all  that  wo 
usually  thiitk  of  when  we  talk  about 
strawberries.  After  our  usual  I'rotago- 
rean  fashion  wo  regard  man  as  tho 
measuro  of  all  things,  and  pay  littlo 
heed  to  any  part  of  tlie  compound  fruit- 
cluster  save  that  which  ministers  directly 
to  our  own  tastes. 

But  why  does  the  strawberry  develop 
this  large  niiiss  of  apparently  useless 
matter  ?  Simply  in  order  tho  better  to 
insure  tho  dispersion  of  its  small  brown 
fruitlets.  Birds  are  always  hunting  for 
seeds  and  insects  along  the  hedge-rows, 
and  devouring  such  among  them  as  con- 
tain any  available  foodstuff.  In  most 
cases  they  crush  tho  seeds  to  pieces  with 
their  gizzards,  and  digest  and  assimilate 
their  contents.  Seeds  of  this  class  aro 
generally  inclosed  in  green  or  brown 
capsules,  which  often  escape  tho  notice 
of  tho  birds,  and  so  succeed  in  perpet- 
uating their  species.  But  there  is  an- 
other class  of  plants  whose  members 
possess  hard  and  indigestible  seeds,  and 


•  IWI 


TIIK  EVULUiloNlhT   AT  LAliUK. 


»<)  turn  till'  (jn-rflv  l»ir<N  from  itniiijoroiiM  I 
nit'iiiifM  into  iiHffiil  iilltri.     Sii()|M(i»iii^ 
tlirrn  v>M  liy  t'liunt'i',  mivn  n\io,  oiki  of 
tlii'No   |iriiiiitivi>  urni'Mtnil  NtritwIiiTrii'M, 
vvliono  t't'iM<|)tii('li<  wiiH  It  liltli' iiiorc  p>il|>y 

tliatl    l|l«lllll,    Iklul   I'OtltllilK'll  IkHlllltll    <|llltll- 

tity  of  Nll^||ry  tinUtor,  diicIi  nn  \n  often 
foiMul  ill  viiriotiM  partH  of  pluntH  ;  tlicti 
it  nii^lit  liit|ipi'n  to  uttriM't  tlif  iittoiition 
of  Hoiiio  liiirij^ry  liinl,  wliii'li,  Ity  t>iitin|i{ 
thu  Hoft  pulp,  would  li('l[t  ill  <liM[K>rNiii|{ 
tlin  ititli^cntihltt  frilitlctH.  Ah  tlii'Nt' 
fruitli'ts  H|irikiii;  up  into  luMiltliy  youiij{ 
plants,  tlii'V  Would  tend  to  rcprodut-o 
till!  pi>(Milia!'ity  ill  till'  Klriii'tiiro  of  tlin 
rt'i'i'titiii'lo    whii'li    iiiiirkt'd    tlm    pan'tit 


rt'i'i'ptiirl 
iitoi'k,  III 


id  Hoinn  of  tlifiii   would   prol 


i|    Idoh- 
Iv.-d    d.>. 


nlily  diHpliiy  it  in  ii  iiiont  tiiar 
crcti.  Tlu'««  would  III)  Miini  to  jjct  I'utcii 
111  tlii'ir  turn,  and  so  to  Ixmvmiiu  tlio 
oi-iL(iiialors  of  ii  Htill  nioro  pronounced 
stniwIii'iTy  type.  As  timo  went  on,  tlio 
larKt'st  and  Hwectest  ItcrrioH  woiiM  eoti- 
Mtantly  lu;  clioKeii  \>y  the  liinls,  till  the 
wholu  HoceicH  he^an  to  assuinu  itn  kx- 

istiiii^  cliaracter.     Then ptaeh;  would 

l>e<'onii)  softer  and  wweutor,  uiul  the 
friiitH  themselves  harder  and  iimro  in- 
di<j;i'stilil(!  ;  lieca.ise,  tin  tjui  oiuj  han<l, 
all  sour  «)r  hard  hcrries  would  stand  a 
poorer  idianoe  of  ^cttiii}^  dispcrsod  in 
jjood  situations  for  their  ujrowtli,  while, 
on  thu  other  hand,  all  Hoft-shellud 
fruitletH  would  hu  };round  up  and  di- 
gested l>y  the  bird,  and  thus  etrectually 
pre.ented  from  ever  jfrowint^  into  future' 
plants.  ,lust  in  like  manner,  many 
tropi(;al  nuts  havo  extravagantly  liard 
fthells,  as  only  those  survivo  wliieh  ean 
successfully  defy  the  teeth  and  hands  of 
the  clever  and  persistent  monkey. 

This  accounts  for  the  strawberry  boinf? 
Rwcet  and  pulpy,  br.t  not  for  its  beinj^ 
rod.  Here,  however,  a  similar  reason 
comes  into  play.  All  riponiiiij;  fruits 
and  openinj^  flowers  have  a  natural  ten- 
dency to  ji;row  brij^ht  red,  or  purple,  or 
blue,  thouju^h  in  many  of  them  the  ten- 
dency is  repressed  by  the  dangers  ut- 
tending  brilliant  displays  of  color.  This 
natural  habit  depends  upon  the  oxidation 
of  their  tissues,  and  is  exactly  analogous 
to  the  assumption  of  autumn  tints  by 
leaves.  If  a  plant,  or  part  of  a  plant, 
id  injured  by  such  a  cliango  of  color, 


tlio(i);li  b«dni;  rendofril  niofo  rormpleu- 

OIIH  to     ilH   foi-M,    it     NOOll     loni'K     tlld     tl'tl- 

doncy  under  tho  inltiietieo  of  nutiifitt 
M'leciion  ;  in  other  words,  thoHo  indi- 
\  idiiaU  which  inoxt  display  it  ^et  killed 
out,  while  those  which  jeaitt  diHpluy  it 
survive  and  thrive.  <  >ii  the  other  hiiiul, 
if  cotiNpicuoiisneNH  is  un  advallllt^e  to  iho 
plant,  till)  exact  opposite  happens,  and 
the  tendency  becomes  developed  into  a 
coiitlrnied  habit.  Tliis  is  the  case  with 
the  strawberry,  as  with  many  otlnr 
fruits.  The  more  bright  colored  the 
berry  is,  the  better  its  chance  of  yetting 
its  friiitlets  dispersed.  Kirds  have  i|iiick 
eyes  for  ctilor,  ((specially  for  nd  and 
white  ;  and  tlienfon*  almost  all  eiliblu 
berries  have  assumed  one  or  other  of 
these  two  hues.  So  long  as  the  fruitletH 
n  main  uiirip(!,  and  would  therefore  bo 
injured  by  being  eaten,  the  pulp  remaitiH 
Hvur,  gre<>n,  and  iiar«l  ;  but  aH  noon  !iM 
they  have  l>ecom(t  tit  for  dispersion  it 
gr*)ws  soft,  tills  with  sugary  juice,  uml 
ac(|uires  its  ruddy  outer  tfesh.  Then 
the  birds  see  and  recMignize  it  as  edible, 
and  govern  themselves  ac(!()rdingly. 

Jlut  if  this  is  the  genesiHof  till!  struw- 
berry,  asks  somebody,  why  have  not  all 
the  potentillas  and  the  whole  strawberry 
tribe  also  beetxne  berries  of  the  same 
type  ?  Why  are  there  still  potentilla 
fruit-dusters  whicli  consist  of  groups  of 
dry  seeddiko  nuts?  Ay,  there's  the 
rub.  Science  cannot  answer  as  yet. 
After  all,  these  ipu'stions  are  still  in 
their  infancy,  and  we  can  scarcely  yet 
do  mort,  than  discover  a  single  stray  in- 
terpretation hero  and  there.  Ii.  the 
present  case  a  botanist  can  only  suggest 
either  that  the  potentilla  finds  its  own 
mode  of  dis[)ersion  o(pially  well  adapted 
to  its  own  peculiar  circumstances,  or 
else  that  the  lucky  accident,  the  casual 
combination  of  circumstances,  which 
produced  the  first  elongation  of  the  re- 
ceptacle in  the  strawberry  has  never 
happened  to  befall  its  more  modest  kins- 
folli.  For  on  such  occsisional  freaks  of 
nature  the  whole  evolution  of  new  vari- 
eties entirely  depends.  A  gardener  may 
raise  a  thousand  seedlings,  and  only  ono 
or  none  among  them  may  present  a 
single  new  and  important  feature.  So 
a  species  may  vrait  for  a  thousand  years. 


TIIK   F.VOI.f'TloNIHT  AT  I.AROE 


[Ml  7 


or    forrvor,    lu-forn    Itn    rlrriiiiiMinii'Pit  [  (i^niii«l   tint    lritrinl<T   with    llio   unmn 
Imppfii  III  |iriH|iii-i<  till*  tlrot  Mti'i)  ImwukI  j  •ttrikiiii;  uniininiify  n<«  tin-  m<mt  iini'ii'tit 


xiiriii'  ilrHiMlih'  iiii|ir<iv«>r.ictit.  <>iii>i\ 
tm  pi'tiil  iiuiy  1)0  iiiviiliial)li<  to  a  !l\i- 
ruyiol  tti)Wi>r  an  i'tT<'i'tiii({  xiiinc  iiiiiiii>hMi> 
NHviii;;  nf  pollfii  in  itH  fcrtili/aiioti  ; 
mill  yt't  tln«  "  «|>i»rt"  wliii-h  xlmll  j^ivt« 
it  tliin  Hixtli  ruy  iruiy  iii>vi>r  ucriir,  or 
rtiikv  Ixt  troililt'ii  iliiwii  ill  tiio  tiiiro  iitnl 
duHtroyutl  l>y  it  piiMHiiii^  cow, 


III. 

IN    MI-MMKU    riKt.llli. 

Ctriip  nni\  I  liiivi>  i-dnn' oiii  furtunorn- 

in^  Htroll  llllintii;  flic  (•|(i«*t'-iT<i|»pr(|  piiM- 


i\ui\  i<\iu>t\vu I   fiiw«.       lli'iH'o   I  am 

ilii'liii<*il  to  KiiHp«'i't  ihiit  till'  aiitipiitliy 
•  lofM  iii'tiially  I'l'ptitlt  fniiii  a  vatfiu'ly  in* 
lu>rit«'i|  iimtitii-t  lii'rix'il  frniii  tlii>  iliiy% 
mIii'm  tlii>  aiii'i-Htor  of  our  kim*  wmh  n 
wilil  Itiill,  aiiij  tin*  lUH'i'Htor  of  our  ||o^M 
a  wolf,  on  till"  wide  fon'>»t.i'lai|  plaiiin  of 
('•'iitral  Kiiropc.  \Vlii>n  i»  com  pntn  up 
iU  tiiil  nt  *'\ii\\t  of  II  (li)^  fnti'riiiv(  it* 
pailiiock  at  tlii>  pri'Mi-nt  ilay,  it  liai*  prolu 
alily  Hoiiiit  ijiiii  iiiHtin'tivc  I'rinti'ioiiNrii'Aii 
that  it  KtumU  in  tlii>  pri-»t>nci>  of  i\ 
liari^i-roiis  liiTi'ilitary  foi-  ;  ami  us  tlio 
wolv«>H  i-diilil  only  m'izi'  witli  Nat'i'ty  n 
Hini;li>  iMolatril  wilil  Inill,  ko  tlio  cowii 
now  iiHiiallv  iiiiilv 'niin'M  lanti'  ii/aiiiHt 


iiii.'iniiiiitv,  till  liiHtiiil  lliwilly  ilitappi'arx 
iindt'r  tlio  opposite  jfato.  Siidi  iii. 
Iii>riti>i|  antipatliicM  kociii  I'onmion   ami 

natural  moip^'li.      I'.viry   >*\ ir-*  known 

and  dreadH  tlio  ordinary  ('iiciiMrt  of  its 
rai'c.  Mico  Hi-ninpor  away  from  tlio 
vi-ry  Mriu'll  of  a  oat.  ^^lllnl;  chickonn 
run  to  tlio  kIh  Iter  of  tlirir  iimtlior'H 
wiiiifH  wlion  tlio  shadow  of  a  hawk 
paxsos  ovor  their  heiuU.  Mr.  |)arwin 
liiit   a   stiiall    Hiiake   into   a   pikper   ha;;, 


tiiroH  lieHido  the  hook,  ill  tho  very  oontro 

t>f  oiir  ^^rooii  little  dini^le.      Hero    [  ran 

nit,  UH  \n  my  wont,  on   a  dry  knoll,  n\\i\  jthe  intnidiiii;  do;;,  tnrnini;  their  hea<U 

watoli    tho    hirdn,  hoa^tH,    inMoot«,    and  I  in  ono  dirootioii    with   very   iinwonted 

liorltH  of  tho  field,  while  <  trip  H irs  the 

plaoo    in    (ivery    direetion,    intent,     no 

doiiht,  upon  those  more  praetieal  ohjeetn 

— mostly  rats,  I  fancy — which  poMsesH  a 

conufonial  iiitorost  for  the  catiino  inti-lli- 

goniM'.      From  my  »!oi|;ii  of  vantaifo  on 

tliu  knoil  I  can  tako  care  that  he  inllictH 

no    griovouH    hodily    injury    u[)on    the 

Hhoop,  and  that  ho  rocoivcH  none  from 

the  (piiek-teiiipered  cow  with  the  hrass- 

knohhed  horns.      l<'or  a  kind  of  aiH'os- 

tral    foiid   ceems    to    Hiiioulder     forever  '  which  ho  t;avc  to   the   iiioiikeyH  at   tho 

hctwoon   (trip   and   tho    wholo  rice  of  j  Zoo  ;    and   oiiu  monkey   after  another 

kino,  hroiikin;^  out  every  now  and  then  '  opened   tho   ha'^,    looki'd   in    upon   tho 

into  open    warfare,    which  oalls  for  my  '  deailly  foe  of  tho  i|uadrumanous   kind, 

prompt  intorforonco,  in  an  attituilo  of   and  promptly  dropped  the  whole  pack- 

urmod  hut  lienovolent  neutrality,  iiK-rely  i  a^ro  with  every  ucsturo   of   horror  ami 

dismay.  Mven  man  himself — tliout;h 
his  instincts  havu  all  weakened  ho 
'greatly  with  the  tfrowth  of  his  more 
pl;istic,  intelli;;cn(!o,  adapteil  to  a  wider 
:ind  more  moditiaMo  set  of  oxtornal  rir- 
eumstances — seems  to  rebiin  a  vatjuo 
and  oriijinal  terror  of  the  surpontino 
form. 

If  wo  think  of  pandlel  cases,  It  is  not 
curious  that  .'Mrmials  should  thus  in- 
stinctively recoi^nizo  tlioir  natural  cne- 
mios.  Wo  aro  not  surprised  that  they 
reoojjnizo  their  own  fellows  :  and  yot 
thoy  must  do  so  hy  means  of  somo 
ociually  stranjjo  nntonuitio  and  inherited 
mechanism  in  their  nervous  system. 
One  butterHy  can  teli  its  mates  nt  once 
from  a  tlioii.<:and  other  species,  though 


for  tho  friendly  purpose  of  kciopin;;  the 
pence. 

This  anciontfoud,  T  ima;;ino,  is  roally 
ancestral,  and  dates  many  ai;es  farther 
back  in  time  than  (jrri|>'s  individual  ox- 
perietioos.  (^tws  hate  doi;s  instinct. 
ively,  from  their  oaiTiost  calfhood  up- 
ward. I  used  to  doiiht  oni'c!  uiion  a 
time  whether  the  hatred  was  not  of 
artificial  orijjin  and  wholly  induced  hy 
tho  inveterate  huiiuin  hahit  of  oirM;in<; 
on  every  dot?  to  worry  evciry  other  an- 
imal tliac  comes  in  its  way.  lint  1 
tried  a  mild  experiment  one  day  hy 
putting  a  half-grown  town-hrod  puppy 
into  a  small  inclosuro  with  some 
hitherto  nn worried  calves,  and  thoy  all 
turned  to  make   a   common   lieadway 


8  [66] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT   LAROE. 


it  iiiny  differ  from  some  of  tlicm  only 
Ity  n  Hinj^lo  spot  or  iirus   whioli  would 
escape  tlie  notice  of  nil  but  the  most  at- 
tentive observers.     Must  we  not  con. 
elude   tliat  tliero  are   elements  in  the 
butterfly's  feeble  brain  exactly  answer- 
inji  to  tlio  blank  picture  of  its  specific 
type  ?     So,  too,  nuist  we  not  suppose 
that   in   every   race   of   animals    there 
arises  n  pcreepti''e  structure  specially 
adopted  to  the  recofjnition   of  its  own 
kind  ?     J>abies  notice  human  faces  lonp; 
bofojo    they    n.)tico   any    other    living 
thing.     In  like  manner  we  know  that 
most  creatures  can  judge  instinctively 
of  their  proper  food.     One  young  bird 
just  fledged  naturally  pecks  at  red  ber- 
ries ;  another  exhibits  an  untaught  de- 
sire  to   chase   down  grasshoppers  ;    a 
third,    which   happens  to   be   born   an 
ovi,  turns  at  once  to  the  congenial  pur- 
suit of  small  sparrows,«mice,  an'i  frogs. 
Each  species  seems  to  have  certain  fac- 
ulties so  arranged  that  the  sight  of  cer- 
tain external  objects,    frequently  con- 
nected with  food  in  their  ancestral   ex- 
perience, immediately  arouses  in  them 
the  appropriate  actions  for  its  capture. 
Mr.  Douglas  Spahiing  found  that  newly- 
liatched    chickens  darted    rapidly  and 
accurately  at  flies  on  the  wing.     When 
we  rcool.'ect  that  even  so  lato  an  acqui- 
sition  as  articulate   speech   in  human 
beings  has  its  special  j)hysical  seat  in 
the  brain,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  com- 
pli(!ated  mechanisms  should  have  arisen 
among  animals  for  the  due  perception 
of  mates,  food,  and  foes  respeci-ively. 
Thus,  doubtless,  the  serpent  form  has 
imprinted  itself  indelibly  on  the  senses 
of    monkeys,    and  the    wolf    or    dog 
form  on  those  of  cows  :  so  that  even 
with  a  young  ape  or  calf  the  sight  of 
these  their  ancestral  enemies  at  once 
calls  up  uneasy  or  terrified  feelings  in 
their  half-developed  minds.     Our  own 
infants  in  arms  have  no  personal  experi- 
ence of  the  real  meaning  to  be  attached 
to  angry  tones,  yet  they  shrink  from 
the  sound  of  a  gruff  voice  even  before 
they  have  learned  to  distinguish  their 
nurse's  face. 

When  Grip  gets  among  the  sheep, 
their  hereditary  traits  come  out  in  a 
very  different  manner.     They  arc  by 


nature  and  descent  timid  mountain  ani- 
mals, and  they  have  never  been  accus- 
tomed to  face  a  foe,  as  cows  and  buffa- 
loes arc  wont  to  do,  especially  when  in 
a  herd  together.     You  cannot  we  many 
traces   of   the    original   mountain     life 
among  sheep,  and  yet  there  are  still  a 
few  remaining  to  mark  their  real  jtedl- 
gree.     Mr.  IlcrbertS^yenccrhas  noticed 
the  fondness  of  hunbs  for  frisking  on  a 
hillock,   liowevcr  small  ;    and   when   I 
come  to  my  little  knoll  liere,  I  generally 
find  it  occupied  by  a  couple,  wlio  rush 
away  on   my  upproacli,   but  take  their 
stand    instead   on   tlie    merest  ant-hill 
which  they  can  find  in  the  field.     I  once 
knew    three   young   goats,    kids   of   a 
mountain  breed,  and  the  only  elevated 
object  in  the  paddock  where  thej''  were 
kept  was  a  single  old  elm  stump.     For 
the  j)08Scssion  of  this  stump  the  goats 
fought    incessantly  ;     and    the   victor 
would  proudly  perch  himself  on  the  top, 
with  all  four  legs  inclined   inward  (for 
the  wliole  diameter  of  the  tree  was  but 
some  fifteen  inclies),  maintaining  him- 
self in  his  place  with  the  greatest  diflR- 
culty,  and  butting  at  his  two  brothers 
until  at  last  he  lost  liis  balance  and  fell. 
This  one  old  stump  was  the  sole  repre- 
sentative in  their  limited  experience  of 
the  rocky  pinnacle  upon  which  their 
forefathers  kept  watch  like  sentinels  ; 
and  their  instinctive  yearnings  prompted 
them  to  perch  themselves  upon  the  only 
available    m.-rnento    of    their    native 
haunts.     Thus,  too,  but  in  a  dimmer 
and   vaguer  way,  the  sheep,   especially 
during  his  younger  days,  loves  to  revert, 
so  far  as  his  small  opportunities  permit 
him,  to  the  unconsciously  remembered 
;iabits  of  his  race.     But  in  mountain 
countries,  every  one  must  have  noticed 
how  the  sheep  at  once  becomes  a  differ- 
ent being.     On  the  Welsh  hills  lie  casts 
away  all  the  dull  and  heavy  serenity  of 
his  brethren  on  the  South  Downs,  and 
displays  once  more  the  freedom,  and 
even  the    comparative  boldness,   of  a 
mountain    breed.      A    Merionethshire 
ewe  thinks  nothing  of  running  up  one 
side  of  a  low-roofed  barn  and  down  the 
other,  or  of  clearing  a  stone  wall  which 
a  Leicestershire  farmer  would  consider 
extravagantly  high. 


ntnln  nni- 
!('n  acoiis- 
»iui  Imffa- 
f  Wiii-n  in 
SCO  many 
itain  lifo 
aru  Htill  a 
real  jtc'di- 
is  noticed 
kin^  on  a 
I  when  I 
generally 
wlio  nisli 
akc  their 
t  ant-hill 
I.  I  once 
ids  of  a 
elevated 
thej'^  were 
lip.  For 
the  goats 
he  vic+or 
n  the  top, 
vard  (for 
e  was  but 
ing  him- 
test  diffi- 
brothcra 
and  fell. 
>le  repre- 
rience  of 
ich  their 
entinels  ; 
Tompted 
the  only 
native 
diminer 
specially 

0  revert, 
s  permit 
embered 
lountain 

noticed 
a  differ- 
he  casts 
enity  of 
ns,  and 
im,  and 
s,  of  a 
ethshire 

up  one 
)wn  the 

1  which 
oDsIder 


TTIE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUOE. 


[07]  0 


Another  mountain  trait  in  the  stereo- 
typed character  <>i  sheep  is  their  well- 
known  RO(juaciousness.  When  Grip 
runs  after  thetn  they  all  run  away 
together  :  if  one  goes  through  a  certain 
gap  in  the  hedge,  every  other  follows  ; 
and  if  the  loader  jumps  the  beck  at  a 
certain  spot,  every  iamb  in  the  flock 
jumps  in  the  self-samo  place.  It  is 
said  that  if  you  hold  a  stick  for  the  first 
sheep  to  leap  over,  and  then  withdraw 
it,  all  the  succeeding  sheep  will  leap 
with  mathematical  accuracy  at  the  cor- 
responding point ;  and  this  habit  is 
usually  held  up  to  ridicule  as  proving 
the  utter  stupidity  of  the  whole  race. 
It  really  proves  nothing  but  the  good- 
ness of  their  ancestral  instincts.  For 
mountain  animals,  accustomed  to  follow 
a  leader,  that  leader  being  the  bravest 
and  strongest  ram  of  the  flock,  must 
necessarily  follow  him  with  the  most 
implicit  obedience,  lie  alone  can  see 
whj>t  obstacles  come  in  the  way  ;  and 
each  of  the  succeeding  train  must  watch 
and  imitate  the  actions  of  their  prede- 
cessors. 0;herwise,  if  the  flock  hap- 
pens to  come  to  a  chasm,  running  as 
they  often  must  with  some  speed,  any 
individual  which  stopped  to  look  and 
decide  for  itself  before  leaping  would 
inevitably  be  pushed  over  the  edge  by 
those  behind  it,  and  so  would  lose  all 
chance  of  handing  down  its  cautious 
and  sceptical  spirit  to  any  possible  de- 
scendants. On  the  other  hand,  those 
uninquiring  and  blindly  obedient  ani- 
mals which  simply  did  as  thoy  saw 
others  do  would  both  survive  themselves 
and  become  the  parents  of  future  and 
similar  generations.  Thus  there  would 
be  handed  down  from  dam  to  lamb  a 
general  tendency  to  so(}uaciousness — a 
follow  -  my  -  leader  spirit,  which  was 
really  the  best  safeguard  for  the  race 
against  the  evils  of  insubordination,  still 
so  fatal  to  Alpine  climbers.  And  now 
that  our  sheep  have  settled  down  to  a 
tame  and  monotonous  existence  on  the 
downs  of  Sussex  or  the  levels  of  the 
Midlands,  the  old  instinct  clings  to 
thera  still,  and  speaks  out  plainly  for 
their  mountain  origin.  There  are  few 
things  in  nature  more  interesting  to 
notice  than  these  constant  survivals  of 


instinctive  habits  in  altered  ciroum- 
staiuH's.  They  are  to  the  mental  lifo 
what  ruditnentary  organs  are  to  the 
bodily  structure  :  they  remind  us  of  an 
older  Older  of  things,  just  as  the  abor- 
tive legs  of  the  blind-worm  show  us  that 
ho  was  once  a  lizard,  and  the  hidden 
shell  of  the  slug  that  he  was  once  a 
snail. 


I\. 

A    8PRI0    OF   WATER    CROWFOOT. 

The  little  streamlet  whoso  tiny 
ranges  and  stickles  form  the  middle 
thread  of  this  green  comlto  in  the  Dor- 
set downs  is  just  at  present  richly  clad 
with  varied  foliage.  Tall  spikes  of  the 
yellow  flag  rise  above  the  slow-flowing 
pools,  while  purple  loose-strife  over- 
hangs the  bank,  and  bunches  of  the 
arrowhead  stand  high  out  of  their 
watery  home,  just  unfolding  their  pretty 
waxen  white  flowers  to  the  air.  In  the 
rapids,  on  the  other  hand,  I  find  the 
curious  water  crowfoot,  a  spray  of 
which  I  have  this  moment  pulled  out  of 
the  stream  and  am  now  holding  in  my 
hand  as  I  sit  on  the  little  stone  bridge, 
with  my  legs  dangling  over  the  pool 
below,  known  to  me  as  the  undoubted 
residence  of  a  pair  of  trout.  It  is  a 
queer  plant,  this  crowfoot,  with  its  two 
distinct  types  of  leaves,  much  cleft  be- 
low and  broad  above  ;  and  I  often  won- 
der why  so  strange  a  phenomenon  has 
attracted  such  very  scant  attention. 
But  then  wo  knew  so  little  of  lifo  in 
any  form  till  the  day  before  yesterday 
that  perhaps  it  is  not  surprising  wo 
should  still  have  left  so  many  odd  prob- 
lems quite  untouched. 

This  problem  of  the  shape  of  leaves 
certainly  seems  to  me  a  most  important 
one  ;  and  yet  it  has  hardly  been  even 
recognized  by  our  scientific  pastors  and 
masters.  At  best,  Mr.  Herbert  Spen- 
cer devotes  to  it  a  passing  short  chap- 
ter, or  Mr.  Darwin  a  stray  sentence. 
The  practice  of  classifying  plants  main- 
ly by  means  of  their  flowers  has  given 
the  flower  a  wholly  factitious  and  over- 
wrought importance.  Besides,  flowers 
are  so  pretty,  and  we  cultivate  them  so 
largely,  with  little  regard  to  the  leaves, 


10  [08J 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST   AT   LAUOE, 


tlint  tlioy  liave  coino  to  usurp  almost 
tlio  entire  interest  of  hotiwiists  and  hor- 
ticulturists Jiliko.  Darwinism  itself  has 
only  hpi<;htenc(l  tiiis  exclusive  interest 
by  callin<^  attention  to  the  reitiprooal  re- 
lations which  exist  between  the  honey- 
bearinjij  blossom  an<l  the  fertilizina;  in- 
sect, the  bri},'ht-colorod  petals  an-i  the 
myriad  facets  of  the  butterfly's  eyo. 
Yet  the  leaf  is  after  all  the  real  plant, 
and  the  flower  is  but  ii  sort  of  after- 
thoujulit,  an  embryo  colony  set  apart 
for  the  propagation  of  like  plants  in  fu- 
ture. Kach  loaf  is  in  truth  a  separate 
individual  organism,  united  with  many 
others  into  a  compound  community,  but 
possessing  in  full  its  own  mouths  and 
digestive  organs,  ami  carrying  on  its 
own  life  to  a  great  extent  independently 
of  the  rest.  It  may  die  without  detri- 
ment to  them  ;  it  may  be  lopped  oflf 
with  a  few  others  as  a  cutting,  and  it 
continues  its  life-cycle  quite  uncon- 
cerned. An  oak  tree  in  full  foliage  is 
a  magnificent  group  of  such  separate  in- 
dividuals—  '.  whole  nation  in  miniature: 
it  may  be  compared  to  a  branched  coral 
polypedom  covered  witli  a  thousand  lit- 
tle inse<'t  workers,  while  each  leaf  an- 
swers rather  to  the  separiite  polypes 
themselves.  The  leaves  are  even  capa- 
ble of  producing  new  individuals  by 
what  tlu^y  contribute  to  the  buds  on 
every  branch  ;  and  the  seeds  which  the 
tree  as  a  whole  produces  are  to  be 
looked  upon  rather  as  the  founders  of 
fresh  colonics,  like  the  swarms  of  bees, 
than  as  resh  individuals  alone.  Every 
plant  community,  in  short,  both  adds 
new  members  to  its  own  commonwealth, 
and  sends  off  totally  distinct  germs  to 
form  new  commonwealths  elsewhere. 
Thus  the  leaf  is,  in  truth,  the  central 
reality  of  the  whole  plant,  while  the 
flower  exists  only  for  the  sake  of  send- 
ing out  a  shipload  of  young  emigrants 
every  now  and  then  to  try  their  for- 
tunes in  some  unknown  soil. 

The  wliole  life-business  of  a  1  af  is, 
of  course,  to  eat  and  grow,  just ;  -  these 
same  functions  form  the  whole  li.o-busi- 
ness  of  a  caterpillar  or  a  tadpole.  But 
the  way  a  plant  cats,  we  all  know,  is 
by  taking  carbon  and  hydrogen  from 
air  and  water  under  the  influence  of 


nunlight,  and  building  them  np  into 
appropriate  compounds  in  its  own  body. 
(Certain  little  green  worms  or  convo- 
tuta  have  the  same  habit,  and  live  for 
the  most  ])art  cheaply  of!  sunlight, 
making  starch  out  of  carbonic  acid  and 
water  by  means  of  their  inclose<l  cldo- 
rophyl,  exactly  as  if  they  were  leaves. 
Now,  as  this  is  what  n  leaf  has  to  do, 
its  form  will  almost  entirely  depend  up- 
on the  way  it  is  affected  by  "unlight  and 
the  elements  around  it — except,  indeed, 
in  so  far  as  it  may  be  called  upon  to  per- 
form other  functions,  such  as  those  of 
defence  or  defiance.  This  crowfoot  is 
a  good  example  of  the  results  produced 
by  such  agents.  Its  lower  leaves,  which 
grow  under  water,  arc  minutely  subdi- 
vided into  little  branching  lance  -  like 
segments  ;  while  its  upper  ones,  Avhich 
raise  their  heads  above  the  surface,  arc 
broad  and  united,  like  the  common 
crowfoot  type.  How  am  I  to  account 
for  these  peculiarities  ?  I  fancy  some- 
how thus  : 

Plants  wliich  live  habitually  under 
water  almost  always  have  thin,  long, 
pointed  leaves,  often  thrcad-liko  or 
mere  waving  filaments.  The  reason  for 
this  is  plain  enough.  Gases  are  not 
very  abundant  in  water,  as  it  only  liolds 
in  solution  a  limited  quantity  of  oxygen 
and  carbonic  acid.  13oth  of  these  the 
plant  needs,  though  in  varying  quanti- 
ties :  the  carbon  to  build  up  its  starch, 
and  the  oxygen  to  use  up  in  its  growth. 
Accordingly,  broad  and  large  leaves 
would  starve  under  water  :  there  is  not 
material  enough  diffused  through  it  for 
them  to  make  a  living  from.  But 
small,  long,  waving  leaves  which  can 
move  up  and  down  in  the  stream  would 
manage  to  catch  almost  every  passing 
particle  of  gaseous  matter,  and  to  util- 
ize it  under  the  influence  of  sunlight. 
Hence  all  plants  which  live  in  fresh 
water,  and  especially  all  plants  of  high- 
er rank,  have  necessarily  acquired  such 
a  type  of  leaf.  It  is  the  only  form  in 
which  growth  can  possibly  take  place 
under  their  circumstances.  Of  course, 
however,  the  particular  i)attern  of  leaf 
depends  largely  upon  the  ancestral 
form.  Thus  this  crowfoot,  even  in  its 
submerged  leaves,  preserves  the  general 


arran^; 
mon  tl 
the  eri 

nontl)1 
are  laif 
[ilossol 
hang 
rocky] 
butter 
have 
mostl} 
One  ol 
stress  I 
the  lil 
ing  p 


THE   EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUOE. 


[00]  11 


1  np  into 
own  l)()(ly. 
i>r  con  vo- 
id live  for 
Hunlifjlit, 

0  acid  and 
osed  olilo- 
sro  loaves. 
iHH  to  do, 
enond  np- 
iiliglit  and 
t,  indeed, 
on  to  per- 

thosc  of 

•OWfoOt  18 

produced 
ca,  which 
;ly  suhdi- 
ince  -like 
es,  wliich 
rface,  arc 
conunon 
•  account 
cy  some- 

\y  under 

in,  long, 

1-liko   or 

[?ason  for 

are  not 

Illy  holds 

"  oxygen 

hese  the 

qiianti- 

starch, 

growth. 

leaves 

re  is  not 

fh  it  for 

1.     But 

ich  can 

n  would 

passing 

to  util- 

mlight. 

1  fresh 
f  high- 
ed  suoh 
"orni  in 
i  place 
course, 
of  leaf 
icestral 
1  in  its 
general 


arrangement  of  rihs  and  leaflets  com- 
mon to  the  w.iolo  buttorr  ^i  tribe.  Tor 
the  crowfoot  family  is  a  large  and  emi- 
nently  a«l;iptablo  race.  Some  of  them 
are  lariv>piii's  and  similar  queerly-shaped 
oIoHsums  ;  others  are  columbines  which 
hang  their  complicated  bells  on  dry  and 
rocky  hillsides  ;  but  the  larger  part  are 
buttercups  or  marsh  marigoldf  which 
have  simple  cup-shaped  flowers,  and 
mostly  frequent  low  aivd  marshy  ground. 
One  of  these  typical  crowfoots  under 
stress  of  circumstances — inundation,  or 
the  like — took  once  upon  a  time  to  liv- 
ing pretty  permanently  in  the  water. 
As  its  native  meadows  grew  deeper  and 
deeper  in  flood  it  managed  from  year 
to  year  to  assume  a  more  nautical  life. 
So,  while  its  leaf  necessarily  remained 
in  general  structure  a  true  crowfoot 
leaf,  it  was  naturally  compelled  to  split 
itself  np  into  thinner  and  narrower  seg- 
ments, each  of  which  grew  out  in  tlie 
direction  where  it  could  And  most  stray 
carbon  atoms,  and  most  sunlight,  with- 
out interference  from  its  neighbors. 
This,  I  take  it,  was  the  origin  of  the 
much-divided  lower  leaves. 

But  a  crowfoot  could  never  live  per- 
manently under  water.  Seaweeds  and 
their  like,  which  propagate  by  a  kind 
of  spores,  may  remain  below  the  sur- 
face forever  ;  but  flowering  plants  for 
the  most  part  must  come  up  to  the 
open  air  to  blossom.  The  sea-weeds 
are  in  the  same  position  as  fish,  original- 
ly developed  in  the  v/ater  and  wholly 
adapted  to  it,  whereas  flowering  plants 
are  rather  analogous  to  seals  and  whales, 
air-breathing  creatures,  whose  ancestors 
lived  on  land,  and  who  can  themselves 
manage  an  aquatic  existence  only  by 
frequent  visits  to  the  surface.  So  some 
flowering  water-plants  actually  detach 
their  male  blossoms  altogether,  and  let 
them  float  loose  on  the  top  of  the 
water  ;  while  they  send  up  their  female 
flowers  by  means  of  a  spiral  coil,  and 
draw  them  down  again  as  soon  as  the 
wind  or  the  fertilizing  insects  have  car- 
ried the  pollen  to  its  proper  receptacle, 
so  as  to  ripen  their  seeds  at  leisure  be- 
neath the  pond.  Similarly,  you  may 
see  the  arrowhead  and  the  water-lilies 
sending  up  their  buds  to  open  freely  in 


the  air,  or  loll  at  ease  upon  the  surface 
of  the  stream.  Thus  the  crowfoot,  too, 
cannot  blossom  to  any  purpose  below 
the  water  ;  and  as  sufh  among  its  an- 
cestors as  at  first  tried  to  do  so  must  of 
course  have  failed  in  producing  any 
seed,  they  and  their  kind  have  died  out 
forever  ;  while  only  those  lucky  indi- 
viduals whose  (rhanco  lot  it  was  to  grow 
a  little  taller  and  weedier  than  the  rest, 
and  so  overtop  the  stream,  have  hand- 
ed down  their  race  to  our  own  time. 

But  as  soon  as  the  crowfoot  finds  it- 
self above  the  level  of  the  river,  all  the 
causes  which  made  its  leaf  like  those 
of  other  aquatic  plants  have  ceased  to 
operate.  The  luiw  leaves  which  sprout 
in  the  air  meet  with  abundance  of  car- 
bon and  sunlight  on  every  side  ;  and 
we  know  that  plants  grow  fast  just  in 
proportion  to  the  supply  of  carbon. 
They  have  pushed  their  way  into  an 
unoccupied  field,  and  they  may  thrive 
apace  without  let  or  hindrance  So, 
instead  of  splitting  np  into  little  lance- 
like leaflets,  they  loll  on  the  surface, 
and  spread  out  broader  ajid  fuller,  like 
the  rest  of  their  race.  The  leaf  be- 
comes at  once  a  broad  type  of  crowfoot 
leaf.  Even  the  ends  of  the  submerged 
leaves,  when  any  fall  of  the  water  in 
time  of  drought  raises  them  above  the 
level,  have  a  tendency  (as  I  have  often 
noticed)  to  grow  broader  and  fatter, 
with  increased  facilities  for  food  ;  but 
when  the  whole  leaf  rises  from  the  first 
to  the  top  the  inherited  family  instinct 
finds  full  play  for  its  genius,  and  the 
blades  fill  out  as  naturally  as  well-bred 
pigs.  The  two  types  of  leaf  remind  one 
much  of  gills  and  lungs  respectively. 

But  above  water,  as  below  it,  the 
crowfoot  remains  in  principle  a  crow- 
foot still.  The  traditions  of  its  race, 
acquired  in  djimp  marshy  meadows, 
not  actually  under  water,  cling  to  it  yet 
in  spite  of  every  change.  Born  river 
and  pond  plants  which  rise  to  the  sur- 
face, like  the  water-lily  or  the  duck- 
weed, have  broad  floating  leaves  that 
contrast  strongly  with  the  waving  fila- 
ments of  wholly  submerged  species. 
They  can  find  plenty  of  food  every- 
where, and  as  the  sunlight  falls  flat  up- 
on them,  they  may  as  well  spread  out 


13  [70] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUOE. 


tliit  to  catch  tlio  sunlijjht.  No  other 
elbowing  pIimtM  overtop  tlioin  and  ap' 
propriato  the  rays,  ko  coinpelling  them 
to  run  up  a  useless  waste  of  stem  in  or- 
der to  poeket  their  fair  share  of  the 
jjjolden  Hood.  Moreover,  they  thus  save 
tile  needless  expense  of  a  stout  leaf- 
stalk, as  the  water  supports  their  lollinj; 
leaves  and  blossoms  ;  while  the  broad 
shade  which  they  cast  on  the  bottom 
below  prevents  the  undue  competition 
of  other  species.  But  the  crowfoot, 
being  by  descent  a  kind  of  buttercup, 
has  taken  to  the  water  for  a  few  imn- 
dred  generations  only,  while  the  water- 
lily's  ancestors  have  been  to  the  man- 
ner born  for  millions  cf  years  ;  and 
therefore  it  liappens  that  the  crowfoot 
is  at  heart  but  a  meadow  buttercup 
still.  One  glance  nt  its  simple  little 
flower  will  show  you  that  in  a  moment. 


V. 


8LU0S    AND    SNAILS. 


lIoEiNO  among  the  flower-bods  on 
my  lawn  this  morning — for  I  am  a  bit 
of  a  gardener  in  my  way — I  have  had 
the  ill-luck  to  maim  a  poor  yellow  slug, 
who  had  hidden  himself  among  the  en- 
croaching grass  on  the  edge  of  my  lit- 
tle parterre  of  sky-blue  lobelias.  This 
unavoidable  wounding  and  hacking  of 
worms  and  insects,  despite  all  one's 
care,  is  no  small  drawback  to  tlie  pleas- 
ures of  gardening  in  propria  persona. 
Vivisection  for  genuine  scientific  pur- 
poses in  responsible  hands,  one  can 
understand  and  tolerate,  even  though 
lacking  the  heart  for  it  one's  self  ;  but 
the  useless  and  causeless  vivisection 
which  cannot  be  prevented  in  every  or- 
dinary piece  of  farm-work  seems  a  gra- 
tuitous blot  upon  the  face  of  benefi- 
cent nature.  My  only  consolation  lies 
in  the  half-formed  belief  that  feeling 
among  these  lower  creatures  is  indefi- 
nite, and  that  pain  appears  to  affect  them 
far  less  acutely  than  it  affects  warm- 
blooded animals.  Their  nerves  are  -"o 
rudely  distributed  in  loose  knots  all 
over  the  body,  instead  of  being  closely 
bound  together  into  a  single  central 
system  as  with  ourselves,  that  they  can 
scarcely  possess  a  consciousness  of  pain 


at  al!  analogous  to  our  own.  A  wa^p 
whose  head  has  been  severed  from  its 
body  and  stuck  upon  a  pin,  will  still 
greedily  suck  up  honey  with  its  throat- 
less  mouth  ;  wliilo  an  Italian  numtis, 
similarly  treated,  will  calmly  continue 
to  hunt  and  dart  at  midges  with  its  de- 
capitated trunk  and  limbs,  (juito  for- 
getful of  the  fi'ot  that  it  has  got  no 
nuindibles  left  to  eat  them  with.  These 
peculiarities  lead  one  to  hope  that  in- 
sects may  feel  pain  less  than  wo  fear. 
Yet  I  dare  scarcely  utter  the  hope,  lest 
it  should  lead  any  thoughtless  hearer  to 
act  upon  the  very  (juestionablo  belief, 
as  they  say  even  the  amiable  enthusi- 
asts of  Port  Iloyal  acted  upon  the  doc- 
trine that  animals  were  mere  uncon- 
scious automata,  by  pushing  their  theory 
to  the  too  practical  length  of  active 
cruelty.  Let  us  at  least  give  the  slugs 
and  beetles  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 
People  often  say  that  science  makes 
men  unfeeling  :  for  my  own  part,  I 
fancy  it  makes  them  only  the  more  hu- 
mane, since  they  are  the  belter  able 
dimly  to  figure  to  tliemselvcs  the  pleas- 
ures and  pains  of  humbler  beings  as 
they  really  are.  The  man  of  science 
perhaps  realizes  more  vividly  than  all 
other  men  the  inner  life  and  vague 
rights  even  of  crawling  worms  and  ugly 
earwigs. 

I  will  take  up  this  poor  slug  whose 
mishap  has  set  me  preaching,  and  put 
him  out  of  his  misery  at  once,  if  mis- 
ery it  be.  My  hoe  has  cut  through  the 
soft  flesh  of  the  mantle  and  hit  against 
the  little  embedded  shell.  Very  few 
people  know  that  a  slug  has  a  shell,  but 
it  has,  though  quite  hidden  from 
view  ;  at  least,  in  this  yellow  kind — 
for  there  are  other  sorts  which  have  got 
rid  of  it  altogether.  I  am  not  sure 
that  I  have  wounded  the  poor  thing 
very  seriously  ;  for  the  shell  protects 
the  heart  and  vital  organs,  and  the  hoc 
has  glanced  off  on  striking  it,  so  that 
the  mantle  alone  is  injured,  and  that 
by  no  means  irrecoverably.  Snail  flesh 
heals  fast,  and  on  the  whole  I  shall  be 
justified,  I  think,  in  letting  him  go. 
But  it  is  a  very  curious  thing  that  this 
slug  should  have  a  shell  at  all  !  Of 
course  it  is  by  descent  a  snail,  and,  in- 


deed, 

twoen 

ence  t 

trace 

tions 

perfec 

interii 

only  a 

tween 

kinds, 

snail, 

and 

comfo 

tackei 

door 

themsi 

winkle 

do.     i 

en  am 

places, 


1.     A  wasp 
p(l  from  its 
n,  will  Htill 
I  it8  tiiroat- 
an   iiiaiitiH, 
y  coiitinuo 
with  its  (lo- 
(juito  for- 
ms {jot  no 
ith.  Tlieso 
po  tliat  in- 
n  wo  ftar. 
)  hope,  lest 
IS  hearer  to 
iblo  belief, 
le  enthusi- 
)n  the  doc- 
[!re  uiicon- 
hcir  theory 
of  active 
3  the  slugs 
ho  doubt, 
ice   makes 
n  part,   I 
!  more  hu- 
>eitcr  able 
the  pleas- 
beings  as 
science 
y  than  all 
nd    vague 
and  ugly 


ug  whose 
and  put 
,  if  mis- 
rough  the 
it  against 
V^ery  few 
shell,  but 
en    from 
'  kind — 
have  got 
not  sure 
|)or  thing 
protects 
the  hoc 
so  that 
and  that 
nail  flesh 
shall  be 
him  go. 
that  this 
all  !     Of 
and,  in- 


TIIE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUOB. 


[71)  18 


deed,  there  arc  very  few  ditTereiiccs  be- 
tween the  two  races  except  in  the  prcs. 
ence  or  absence  of  ii  house.  Vou  may 
trace  u  curiously  complete  set  of  grada- 
tions between  the  perfect  snail  and  the 
perfect  slug  in  this  respect  ;  for  all  the 
interiiiediate  forms  still  survive  with 
only  an  almost  imperceptible  gap  be- 
tween each  species  mid  tlie  next.  Some 
kinds,  like  the  common  brown  garden 
snail,  have  comparatively  small  bodies 
and  big  shell.*,  so  that  they  can  retire 
comfortably  within  them  when  at- 
tacked ;  and  if  they  only  had  a  lid  or 
door  to  their  houses  they  could  shut 
themselves  up  hermetically,  as  peri- 
winkles and  similar  mulluska  actually 
do.  Other  kiiids,  like  the  pretty  gold- 
en amber-snails  which  fretpient  marshy 
places,  have  a  body  much  too  big  for 
its  house,  so  that  they  cannot  possibly 
retire  within  their  shells  completely. 
Then  come  a  number  of  intermediate 
species,  each  with  progressively  smaller 
and  thinner  shells,  till  at  length  we 
reach  the  testacella,  which  has  only  a 
sort  of  limpet-shaped  shield  on  his  tail, 
80  that  he  is  generally  recognized  as  be- 
ing the  first  of  the  slugs  rather  than 
the  hist  of  the  snails.  You  will  not 
find  a  testacella  unless  you  particularly 
look  for  him,  for  he  seldom  comes 
above  ground,  being  a  most  bloodthirsty 
subterraneous  carnivore  who  follows  the 
burrows  of  earthworms  as  savagely  as  a 
ferret  tracks  those  of  rabbits  ;  but  in 
all  the  southern  and  western  counties 
you  may  light  upon  stray  specimens  if 
you  search  carefully  in  damp  places 
under  fallen  leaves.  Even  in  testaceihe, 
however,  the  small  shell  is  still  external. 
In  this  yellow  slug  here,  on  the  con- 
trary, it  does  not  show  itself  at  all,  but 
is  buried  under  the  closely  wrinkled 
skin  of  the  glossy  mantle.  It  has  be- 
come a  mere  saucer,  with  no  more 
symmetry  or  regularity  than  an  oyster- 
shell.  Among  the  various  kinds  of 
slugs,  you  may  watch  this  relic  or  rudi- 
ment gradually  dwindling  further  and 
further  towards  annihilation  ;  till  final- 
ly, in  the  great  fat  black  slugs  which 
appear  so  plentifully  on  the  roads  after 
summer  showers,  it  is  represented  only 
by  a  few  rough  calcareous  grains,  scat- 


tered up  and  down  through  the  man- 
tle ;  and  sometimes  eveti  these  are 
wanting.  The  organs  which  used  to 
secrete  the  shell  in  their  remote  ances- 
tors have  either  ceased  to  work  alto- 
gether or  are  reduced  to  performing  a 
useless  ofHco  by  mere  organic  routitie. 

The  reason  why  some  mollusks  have 
thus  lost  their  shells  is  clear  enough. 
Shells  are  of  two  kinds,  calcareous  and 
horny,  lioth  of  theuj  recjuire  more  or 
less  lime  or  other  mineral  matters, 
though  in  varying  proportiotis.  Now, 
the  snails  which  thrive  best  on  the  bare 
chalk  downs  behind  my  little  combo 
belong  to  that  pretty  banded  black-and- 
white  sort  which  everybody  nmst  have 
noticed  feeding  in  abundance  on  all 
chalk  soils.  Indeed,  Sussex  farmers 
will  lell  you  that  South  Down  mutton 
owes  its  excellence  to  these  fat  little 
mollusks,  not  to  the  scanty  herbage  of 
their  thin  pasture-lands.  The  jiretty 
banded  shells  in  question  are  almost 
wholly  composed  of  lime,  which  the 
snails  can,  of  course,  obtain  in  any  re- 
♦piired  quantity  from  the  chalk.  In 
most  limestone  districts  you  will  simi- 
larly find  that  snails  with  calcareous 
shells  predominate.  But  if  you  go  into 
a  granite  or  sandstone  tract  you  will  see 
that  horny  shells  have  it  all  their  own 
way.  Now,  some  snails  with  such 
houses  took  to  living  in  very  damp  and 
marshy  places,  which  they  were  natu- 
rally apt  to  do — as  indeed  the  land- 
snails  in  a  body  are  merely  pond-snails 
which  have  taken  to  crawling  up  the 
leaves  of  marsh-plants,  and  have  thus 
gradually  acclimatized  themselves  to  a 
terrestrial  existence.  We  can  trace  a 
perfectly  regular  scries  from  the  most 
aquatic  to  the  most  land-loving  species, 
just  as  I  have  tried  to  trace  a  regular 
series  from  the  shell-beanng  snails  to 
the  shell-less  slugs.  Well,  when  the 
earliest  common  ancestor  of  both  these 
last-named  races  first  took  to  living 
above  water,  he  possessed  a  horny  shell 
(like  that  of  the  araber-snail),  which 
his  progenitors  used  to  manufacture 
from  the  mineral  matters  dissolved  in 
their  native  streams.  Some  of  the 
younger  branches  descended  from  this 
primeval  land-snail  took  to  living  ou 


14  [72] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LARGE. 


very  dry  land,  nnd  when  tlicy  roadipd 
clialky  diftrictH  niatm  fact  ii  red  tlicir 
bIicII-^,  on  an  easy  and  improved  princi- 
ple, almost  entirely  out  of  lime.  lint 
others  took  to  liviiif^  in  njoist  and  bog- 
jjy  j)lHet'8,  where  mineral  matter  was 
rare,  and  where  the  Hoil  consisted  for 
the  most  part  of  decaying  vegotahle 
mould,  llere  they  could  get  little  or 
no  lime,  and  ho  their  shells  grew  suniller 
and  smaller,  in  proportion  as  their 
hahits  became  more  decidedly  tcrrea- 
trial.  But  1o  the  last,  as  lung  as  any 
shell  at  all  remained,  it  generally  cov- 
ered their  hearts  and  other  important 
organs  ;  because  it  would  there  act  ns 
a  special  protection,  even  after  it  had 
ceased  to  be  of  any  use  for  the  defence 
of  the  animal's  body  as  a  whole.  Ex- 
actly in  the  same  way  men  specially 
protected  their  heads  and  breasts  with 
helmets  and  cuirasses,  before  armor  was 
used  for  the  whole  body,  because  these 
were  the  places  where  a  wound  would 
be  most  dangerous  ;  and  they  contin- 
ued to  cover  these  vulnerable  spots  in 
the  same  manner  even  when  the  use  of 
armor  liad  been  generally  abandoned. 
My  poor  mutilated  slug,  who  is  just 
now  crawling  off  contentedly  enough 
towards  the  hedge,  would  have  been  cut 
in  two  outright  by  my  hoe  had  it  not 
been  for  that  solid  calcareous  plate  of 
his,  which  saved  his  life  as  surely  as 
any  coat-of  mail. 

How  does  it  come,  though,  that  slugs 
and  snails  now  live  together  in  the  self- 
same districts  ?  Why,  because  they 
each  live  in  their  own  way.  Slugs 
belong  by  origin  to  very  damp  and 
marshy  spots  ;  but  in  the  fierce  compe- 
tition of  modern  life  they  spread  them- 
selves over  comparatively  dry  places, 
provided  there  is  long  grass  to  hide  in, 
or  stones  under  which  to  creep,  or  juicy 
herbs  like  lettuce,  among  whose  leaves 
are  nice  moist  nooks  wherein  to  lurk 
during  the  heat  of  the  day.  Moreover, 
some  kinds  of  slugs  are  quite  as  well 
protected  from  birds  (such  as  ducks)  by 
their  nauseous  taste  as  snails  are  by 
their  shells.  Thus  it  happens  that  at 
present  both  races  may  be  discovered  in 
many  hedges  and  thickets  side  by  side, 
but  the  real  home  of  each  is  quite  differ- 


ent. The  truest  and  most  snnil-liko 
snails  are  found  in  greatest  abundaneo 
upon  high  chalk-downs,  heathy  lime* 
stone  hills,  and  other  comparatively  dry 
places  ;  while  the  truest  and  most  slug* 
like  slugs  are  found  in  greatest  abun- 
dance among  low  water-logged  mead- 
ows, or  under  the  damp  fallen  leaves  of 
moist  copses.  The  intermediate  kinds 
•idiabit  the  intermediate  places.  Yet 
to  the  last  even  the  most  thorough- 
going snails  retain  a  final  trace  of  their 
original  water- haunting  life,  in  their 
imiversal  habit  of  seeking  out  the  cool- 
est and  moistcst  spots  of  their  respective 
habitats.  The  soft-fleshed  mollusks  aro 
all  by  nature  aipuiticaninuds,  and  noth- 
ing can  induce  them  wholly  to  forget 
the  old  tradition  of  their  marine  or 
fresh-water  existence. 


VI. 

A    STUtr   OF    BONES. 

On  the  top  of  this  bleak  chalk  down, 
where  I  am  wandering  on  a  dull  after- 
noon, I  light  upon  the  blanched  skele- 
ton of  a  crow,  which  I  need  not  fear  to 
handle,  as  its  bones  have  been  first 
picked  clean  by  carrion  birds,  and 
then  finally  purified  by  hungry  ants, 
time,  and  stormy  weather.  I  pick  a 
piece  o{  it  up  in  my  hands,  and  find 
that  I  have  got  hold  of  its  clumped  tail- 
bone.  A  strange  fragment  truly,  with 
a  strange  history,  which  T  may  well 
spell  out  as  I  sit  to  rest  a  minute  upon 
the  neighboring  stile.  For  this  dry 
tail-bone  consists,  as  I  can  sec  at  a 
glance,  of  several  separate  vertebrae,  all 
firmly  welded  together  into  a  single 
piece.  They  must  once  upon  a  time 
have  been  real  disconnected  jointed 
vertebrae,  like  those  of  the  dog's  or 
lizard's  tail  ;  and  the  way  in  which  they 
have  become  fixed  fast  into  a  solid  mass 
sheds  a  world  of  light  upon  the  true 
nature  and  origin  of  birds,  as  well  as 
upon  many  analogous  cases  elsewhere. 

When  I  say  that  these  bones  were 
once  separate,  I  am  indulging  in  no 
mere  hypothetical  Darwinian  specula- 
tion. I  refer,  not  to  the  race,  but  to 
the  particular  crow  in  person.  These 
very  pieces  themselves,  in  their  embrj- 


TIIK  KVOMITIONIST   AT  LAUdE. 


[73J  15 


t  Rnnil-liko 
iilxtiidanco 
entliy  litiie- 
patively  dry 
I  numt  Hlug- 
iitt'Ht  Hbun- 
l^iid  nu'iid- 
.'H  Iciivcs  of 
diatu  kindn 
laces.  Yet 
thorough- 
icc  of  their 
ft',  in  their 
lit  the  cool- 
r  respective 
lolhisks  arc 
,  and  noth- 
y  to  forget 
uiarine    or 


halk  down, 
dull  aftcr- 
;hcd  skelc- 
not  fear  to 

been  first 
birds,  and 
ngry   ants, 

I  pick  a 

and  find 
inped  tail- 
truly,  with 

may  well 
nutu  upon 
•  this    dry 

SCO  at  a 
rtebrse,  all 

0  a  single 
on  a  time 
3d  jointed 

dog's  or 
vhich  they 
solid  mass 

the  true 
as  well  as 

1  se  where, 
ones  were 
ing  in  no 

specula- 
ce,  but  to 
n.  These 
jir  enibrj- 


1 


onlo  condition,  wore  an  dintinct  m  the 
individual  boneM  of  the  bird's  neuk  or 
of  our  own  Hpiucs.  If  you  were  to  cx- 
ainiiie  the  chick  in  the  egg  you  would 
find  thorn  quite  diviiU-d.  liut  as  the 
young  crow  grows  luoro  and  riii»ro  into 
the  typical  bird-piittcrn,  this  lizard-like 
peculiarity  fades  away,  and  the  separate 
pieces  unite  by  "  anastomosis"  into  a 
single  "  coccygoau  l)on(',"  a;*  the  oste- 
ologists call  it.  In  all  our  modcni 
birds,  as  in  this  crow,  the  vertebne 
composing  the  tail-bone  are  few  in 
number,  and  are  soldered  together  im- 
movably in  the  a(hilt  form.  It  was  not 
always  so,  however,  with  ancestral  birds. 
The  earliest  known  moinlter  of  the 
class — the  famous  fossil  bird  of  the 
Solenhofen  lithographic  stone — retained 
throughout  its  whole  life  a  lonij  fiexible 
tail,  composed  of  twenty  iinwelded  vor- 
tebno,  each  of  which  bore  a  single  pair 
of  (piill-feathers,  the  predecessors  of 
our  modern  pigeon's  train.  There  are 
many  other  marked  reptilian  peculiari- 
ties in  this  primitive  oolitic  bird  ;  and 
it  apparently  possessed  true  teeth  in  its 
jaws,  as  its  later  cretaceous  kinsmen  dis- 
covered by  Professor  Marsh  undoubtedly 
did.  When  we  compare  side  by  side 
those  real  flyinir  drajxons,  the  Ptero- 
dactyls,  together  with  the  very  bird- 
like  Deinosaurians,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  these  early  toothed  and  lizard-tailed 
birds  on  the  other,  we  can  have  no 
reasonable  doubt  in  deciding  that  our 
own  sparrows  and  swallows  are  the  re- 
mote feathered  descendants  of  an  orig- 
inal reptilian  or  half-reptilian  ancestor. 
Why  modopn  birds  have  lost  their 
lonjr  flexible  tails  it  is  not  difficult  to 
see.  The  tail  descends  to  all  liigher 
vertebrates  as  an  heir-loom  from  the 
fishes,  the  amphibia,  and  their  other 
aquatic  predecessors.  With  those  it  is 
a  necessary  organ  of  locomotion  in 
swimming,  and  it  remains  almost 
equally  useful  to  the  lithe  and  gliding 
lizard  on  land.  Indeed,  the  snake  is 
but  a  Hz  ■;  who  has  substituted  this 
wriggling  motion  for  the  use  of  legs 
altogether  ;  and  we  can  trace  a  gradual 
succession  from  the  four-legged  true 
lizards,  through  snake-like  forms  with 
two  legs  and  wholly  rudimentary  legs. 


to  the  absolutely  limbless  serpents 
themselves.  I5ut  to  tlyinir  birdn,  on  the 
contrary,  a  long  bonv  tail  is  only  an  in- 
convenience. All  tfiat  they  need  is  a 
little  muH(;iilar  knob  for  the  support  of 
the  tail-fe-ithors,  whiith  thev  employ  an 
a  rudder  in  guiding  their  flight  upward 
or  downward,  to  right  or  ieft.  The 
elongatcMl  waving  tail  of  the  Solenhofen 
bird,  with  its  single  pair  of  qiiillH,  must 
have  been  a  comparatively  inetfectiial 
and  clumsy  piece  of  mochaiiisin  for 
steering  an  aerial  creature  through  its 
novel  domain.  Accordingly,  llie  bones 
soon  grow  fewer  in  number  and  shorter 
in  length,  while  the  feathers  simultane- 
ously arranged  themselves  side  by  side 
upon  the  terminal  hump.  As  early  as 
the  time  when  our  tihalk  was  deposited, 
the  bird's  tail  had  become  what  it  is 
at  the  present  day — a  single  united 
bone,  consisting  of  a  few  scarcely  dis. 
tinguishabie  crowded  rings.  This  is 
the  form  it  assumes  in  the  toothed  fos- 
sil birds  of  Western  America.  Hut,  as 
if  to  [)re8erve  the  memory  of  their  rep- 
tilian origin,  birds  in  their  embryo 
stage  still  go  on  producing  separate 
cautlal  vertebnu,  only  to  unite  them  to- 
gether at  a  later  point  of  their  devel- 
opment into  the  typical  coccygean  bone. 
Much  the  same  sort  of  process  has 
taken  place  in  the  higher  apes,  and,  as 
Mr.  liarwin  would  assure  us,  in  man 
himself.  There  the  long  prehensile  tail 
of  the  monkeys  has  grown  gradually 
shorter,  and,  being  at  last  coiled  up  un- 
der the  haunches,  has  finally  degenerated 
into  an  insignificant  and  wholly  im- 
bedded  terminal  joint.  But,  indeed, 
we  can  find  traces  of  a  similar  adap- 
tation to  circumstances  everywhere. 
Take,  for  instance,  the  common  Eng- 
lish amphibians.  The  newt  passes  all 
its  life  in  the  water,  and  therefore 
always  retains  its  serviceable  tail  as  a 
swimming  organ.  The  frog  in  its  tad- 
pole state  is  also  aquatic,  and  it  swims 
wholly  by  means  of  its  broad  and  flat 
rudder-like  appendage.  But  as  its  legs 
bud  out,  and  it  begins  to  fit  itself  for  a 
terrestrial  existence,  the  tail  undergoes 
a  rapid  atrophy,  and  finally  fades  away 
altogether.  To  a  hopping  frog  on  land, 
I  such  a  long  train  would  be  a  useless 


10  [74] 


TIIK   KVOIAITIONIST  AT   LAHUE. 


driif;.  wliilo  in  tho  wat«'r  Uk  wcIiIumI 
fi'ot  /mil  musi'uliir  Ii'j^s  muko  n  KatiKfiK;- 
tory  Hiil).Htittito  for  till)  lost  or^aii.  fjint 
of  all,  tlio  trtH)-frt%  loading  a  Hpi-ciallv 
tcrri'Mtrial  life,  lian  no  tailpolc  at  all, 
but  uMior^c's  from  tlm  o^fj^  in  tin*  full 
fro|^.lik«  fliapo.  An  ho  imvor  livos  in 
tho  water,  ho  novor  focU  tho  nut'd  of  a 
tail. 

Tho  odihle  oral*  and  lohstor  nhow  uh 
nn  exactly  parallel  ciiso  UTnonj;  crusta- 
ceanH.  Kveryhody  lian  noticed  that  a 
crah'H  l)ody  Ih  nrai^tically  identical  with 
n  lol>ster'«,  only  that  in  the  cralt  the 
l)odv-Het;iiientH  are  iM'oad  and  compact, 
whim  the  tail,  so  conspicuous  in  its 
kiiiHnian,  Ih  here  relatively  Htnall  and 
tuiiked  away  unobtriiHivoly  behind  the 
lej^s.  This  ditlercnco  in  construction 
depends  entirely  npon  the  habits  and 
manners  of  tho  two  races.  The  lobster 
lives  anionfj  rocks  and  ledj^es  ;  he  uses 
liis  snuill  Ic^s  but  little  for  locomotion, 
but  he  sj)rinii;s  Hurprisinj^ly  fast  and  far 
throuj^h  the  water  by  a  single  effort  of 
liis  powerful  muscular  tail.  As  to  his 
big  fore-claws,  those,  we  all  know,  are 
organs  of  prehension  and  weapons  of 
offence,  not  pieces  of  locomotive 
mechanism.  llcnce  tho  edible  and 
muscular  part  of  a  lobster  is  chiefly  to 
be  fo\ind  in  the  claws  and  tail,  the  lat- 
ter having  naturally  tho  tirmest  and 
strongest  tlesh.  The  crab,  on  the  other 
hand,  lives  on  the  sandy  l)ottom,  and 
walks  about  on  its  lesser  legs,  instead  of 
swimming  or  darting  through  tho  water 
by  blows  of  its  tail,  like  tlio  lobster  or 
tho  still  more  active  prawn  and  shrimp, 
llonce  the  crab's  tail  lias  dwindled  away 
to  a  mere  nselesa  historical  relic,  while 
tho  most  important  muscles  in  its  body 
are  those  seated  in  tho  network  of  shell 
just  above  its  locomotive  legs.  In  this 
case,  again,  it  is  clear  that  the  appendage 
has  disappeared  because  the  owner  had 
no  further  use  for  it.  Indeed,  if  one 
looks  through  all  nature,  one  will  find 
the  philosophy  of  tails  eminently  simple 
and  utilitarian.  Those  animals  that 
need  them  evolve  them  ;  those  animals 
that  do  not  need  them  never  develop 
them  ;  and  those  animals  that  have  once 
had  them,  but  no  longer  use  them  for 
practical  purposes,  retain  a  mere  shriv- 


elleil   rudiment  as  a  lingering  renunls- 
cence  of  their  origiiuil  habits. 


vir. 

niiK  Mil). 

Aktrii  last  night's  rain,  the  cliffs  that 
bound  the  bay  have  come  out  in  all 
their  most  Itrilliant  colors  ;  so  this 
morning  I  am  turning  my  st<'ps  seaward, 
and  wandering  along  the  great  ridge  of 
pebbles  whi(;h  here  breaks  the  force  of 
tho  Channel  waves  as  tln'y  l»eat  against 
the  long  line  of  the  ])orset  downs. 
Our  cliffs  just  at  this  point  are  com- 
posed of  blue  lias  beneath,  with  a  cap- 
[ting  of  yellow  sandstone  on  their  sum- 
mits, above  whi(;h  in  a  few  places  tho 
layer  of  chalk  that  once  topped  tho 
whole  country-sidu  has  still  resisted  tho 
slow  wear  and  tear  of  unnundxtred  cen- 
turies. These  throe  elements  give  a 
variety  to  the  bold  and  broken  bluffs 
which  is  rare  along  the  monotonous 
southern  es(!arpment  of  the  English 
coast.  After  rain,  especially,  tho 
changes  of  color  on  their  sides  are  often 
quite  startling  in  their  vividness  and  in- 
tensity. To-day,  for  example,  the  yel- 
low sandstone  is  tinged  in  parts  with  a 
deep  russet  red,  contrasting  admirably 
with  tho  bright  green  of  the  fields  above 
and  the  sombre  steel-blue  of  tho  lias 
belt  below.  Besides,  we  have  liad  so 
many  landslips  along  this  bit  of  shore, 
that  the  various  layers  of  rock  have  in 
more  than  one  place  got  mixed  ui)  with 
one  another  into  inextricable  confusion. 
The  little  town  nestling  in  the  hollow 
behind  me  has  long  b||pn  famous  as 
the  headquarters  of  early  geologists  ; 
and  not  a  small  proportion  of  the  peo- 
ple earn  their  livelihood  to  the  present 
day  by  "  goin'  a  fossiling."  Every 
child  about  the  place  recognizes  am- 
monites as  "  snake-stones  ;"  while  even 
the  rarer  vertebra;  of  extinct  saurians 
have  acquired  a  local  designation  as 
"  vertorberries."  So,  whether  in  search 
of  science  or  the  picturesque,  I  often 
clamber  down  in  this  direction  for  my 
daily  stroll,  particularly  when,  as  is  the 
case  to-day,  the  rain  has  had  time  to 
trickle  through  the  yellow  rock,  and  the 
sun  then  shines  full  against  its  face,  to 


ng  rcimniH- 


;h. 


10  cliffs  that 
out  ill  all 
H  ;  HO  tliirt 
'pssuiiwanl, 
rat  r'ul^ti  of 
tlio  foroo  of 
l>fat  a^aiiiHt 

•Hot    (luWIIH. 

t  arc  com- 
with  a  cap- 
1  tlicir  Hum- 

placuH  tlio 
topped  tho 
rosiHtod  tho 
iiliured  cen- 
L'litH  givo  a 
okon  bluffs 
inonotonouH 
liu  Kiij^liHJi 
'cially,  tho 
L'H  arc  often 
loss  and  in- 
»lc,  the  ycl- 
parts  with  a 
;  admirahly 
fields  above 
of  the  lias 
avo  had  so 
it  of  shore, 
ck  have  in 
(od  up  with 
3  confusion, 
tho  hollow 

famous  as 
[geologists  ; 
of  the  peo- 
the  present 
."  Every 
gnizes   am- 

whilc  even 
ct  saurians 
gnation  as 
er  in  search 
JO,  I  often 
ion  for  my 
n,  as  is  the 
id  time  to 
ck,  and  the 
its  face,  to 


TIIK   KVOI.ITTIOMST    AT    I.AWOK 


i:.-*!  17 


light  it  up  with  A  rich  Itood  of  goldi-n 
ii[)ifiidor. 

Tlu'  baHO  of  the  cliffs  couHistH  entirely 
of  a  very  soft  and  plastic  blue  lias  iiiud. 
TluN  mud  cuiitaiiis  largo  iMiiiibi>rs  of 
fossils,  chictly  fliainbt'iod  shells,  but 
mixed  with  not  a  few  relics  of  the  great 
Hwitumiiig  anil  llying  li/ards  that 
swarmed  among  the  shallow  tiats  or  low 
islands  of  the  lias  sea.  When  the  blue 
mud  was  slowly  accumulating  in  the 
hollows  of  the  aiii'iciit  bottom,  these 
huge  saurians  formeil  practically  the 
highest  ract!  of  animals  then  existing 
upon  earth.  Tliero  were,  it  is  true,  a 
few  primeval  kangaroo- mice  and  wom- 
bats among  the  rank  brushwood  of  the 
mainland  ;  and  there  may  even  have 
been  a  species  or  two  of  re|)tili!in  birds, 
with  murderous-looking  teeth  and  long 
li/.ard-like  tails — descendantrt  of  those 
problematical  creatures  which  printed 
their  footmarks  on  the  American  trias, 
and  ancestors  of  the  later  toothed  bird 
whose  tail-feathers  have  been  naturally 
lithographed  for  us  oii  the  Soleiihofeii 
slate.  l!ut  in  spito  of  such  raro  ])re- 
curaors  -jf  higher  modern  typen,  the 
saurian  was  in  fact  th^j  real  lord  of  earth 
in  tho  lias  ocean. 

For  biiii    dill  hU:  Iii^h  Him  flamo,  and  his 

river  billowing  ran, 
And  ho   felt   himself  in  his   priclo    to   bo 

nature's  crowing  race. 

We  have  adopted  an  easy  and  slovenly 
way  of  dividing  all  rocks  into  primary, 
secondary,  and  tertiary,  which  veils 
from  us  the  real  chronological  relations 
of  evolving  life  iu  the  different  periods. 
Tho  lias  is  rarited  by  geologists  among 
the  earliest  secondary  formations  ;  but 
if  wo  were  to  distribute  all  the  sedi- 
menbtry  rocks  into  ten  great  epochs, 
each  representing  about  ctjnal  duration 
in  time,  the  lias  would  really  fall  in  the 
tenth  and  latest  of  all.  So  very  mis- 
leading to  the  ordinary  mind  is  our  ac- 
cepted geological  nomenclature.  Nay, 
even  commonplace  geologists  them- 
selves often  overlook  tho  real  implica- 
tions of  numy  facts  and  figures  which 
they  have  learned  to  quote  glibly  enough 
in  a  certain  off-hand  way.  Let  mo  just 
briefly  reconstruct  tho  chief  features  of 
this  scarcely  recognized   world's  chro- 


nology n«  I  nit  on  thi:«  n'lcro  of  fallen 
chalk  at  tho  foot  of  tn(>  mouldering 
<  litT,  V,  here  the  stream  from  tlie  meailow 
above  brought  ilown  the  lu^wcst  land-«lip 
during  the  hard  frosts  of  last  I>ecem. 
ber.  First  of  all,  there  is  the  vast  lapse 
of  time  represented  bv  the  I.aureiitiaii 
roitkh  of  Canada.  These  l.aurentiaii 
rocks,  the  oldest  in  the  worM,  arc  at 
least  ;to,ooi)  feet  in  thickness,  and  it 
must  be  allowed  that  it  takes  a  reason- 
able number  of  years  to  accumulate  such 
a  mass  of  solid  limestone  or  clay  as  that 
at  the  bottom  of  even  the  widest 
primeval  ocean.  In  these  nx-ks  there 
are  nt)  fossils,  exc»  ,/t  i'  single  very 
doubtful  member  of  tho  very  lowest 
animal  type.  I»ut  there  are  indirect 
traces  of  life  in  tlu'  shape  of  limestone 
probably  derived  fnuii  sliells,  and  (»f 
black  lead  proi»ably  derivcil  from 
plants.  All  these  early  deposits  have 
lieen  terribly  twisted  and  contorted  by 
subsei|Uent  convulsions  of  the  earth,  and 
most  of  them  have  been  melted  down 
by  volcanic  action  ;  so  that  we  can  tell 
very  little  about  their  original  ntate. 
Thus  the  history  of  life  opens  for  us, 
like  most  other  histories,  with  a  i)eriotl 
of  uncertainty  :  its  origin  is  lost  in  tho 
distant  vistas  of  time.  Still,  we  know 
that  there  wan  such  an  early  period  ; 
and  from  the  thickness  of  the  rocks 
which  represent  it  we  may  conjecture 
that  it  spread  over  three  out  of  the  ten 
great  a'oiis  into  which  I  liave  roughly 
divided  geological  time.  Next  comes 
tho  i)eriod  known  as  the  Cambrian,  and 
to  it  we  may  similarly  assign  about  two 
and  a  half  a-oiis  on  like  grounds.  The 
Cambrian  epoi'h  begins  with  a  fair 
sprinkling  of  the  lower  animals  and 
plants,  presumai)ly  <leveloped  during 
tho  preceding  age  ;  but  it  shows  no  re- 
mains of  fish  or  any  other  vertebrates. 
To  tlio  Silurian,  J)ev()nian,  and  Car- 
boniferous {(criods  we  may  roughly  al- 
low an  a'on  and  a  fraction  each  ;  while 
to  the  whole  group  of  secondary  and 
tertiary  strata,  comprising  almost  all  the 
best  -  known  Knglish  formations — red 
marl,  lias,  oolite,  greensand,  chalk, 
eocene,  miocene,  pliocene,  and  drift — 
we  can  only  give  a  single  aeon  to  be  di- 
vided between  them.     Such  facts  will 


Ifl  f7fll 


THK   FVOM'TTONIRT   AT   I.AIKIK. 


jHiMIi'icntly  "nfffifp«t  liow  rn»iipfiriitiv«'ly 
riKMlirii  iiri'  nil  tln'm*  rookn  wlu'ii  vicwcil 
l>V  tlx'  \ni\\i  of  '>li  almoliitii  clirutinlii^v. 
>rii\v,  llit>  tlri«t  IIhIm'h  do  not  ot-nir  till 
tilt'  Siliiriiiii  — tli.it  ']•*  to  M.iv,  in  or  iiltoiit 
till)  Hnvcntli  ii'oii  after  tlio  lic^inniii^  of 
f;<>o|oi;ii'ii|  tiiiii'.  'I'lii*  tlr^t  iiiitiiiiiiuU 
iirM  foiiiKJ  ill  till'  triiiH,  nt  tli<^  lM>;;iiiiiiiii; 
of  tint  truth  II  oil.  Ami  tln^llrMt  known 
liirii  only  iiiukcM  itn  ii|i|m  aniiico  in  tli<> 
oolite,  altoiit  liiilf  way  tliroiii;li  tliat 
latcht  tu'rioil.  'I'hin  will  mIkiw  that  tlnTo 
WHS  plfiity  of  time  for  their  (levejop- 
iiient  in  tlio  i'arlicr  mn'n.  Trtio,  wn 
liuiHt  reckon  the  intiTval  between  our- 
HelveH  ami  the  dati*  of  thin  Mile  iiiiid  at 
many  inillionH  of  yearH  ;  hut  then  we 
niilHt  reekori  the  interval  Itetween  the 
lias  and  the  earliest  Cainhrian  strata  at 
Koiiui  six  tiiiioM  as  iiiiich,  an<l  hotwecni 
the  lias  and  the  lowest  liaiiretitian  lieds 
at  nearly  tcfii  times  as  much.  .)ii><t,  the 
niuui)  sort  of  lt!sseninjx  porspertivo  exists 
in  j;eoloi;y  as  in  ordinary  history. 
Most  people  look  Upon  the  a;^e  liefofe 
tlio  ^(orlnan  eonipiest  as  a  men;  hrief 
episode  of  the  Kiijilish  annals  ;  yet  six 
whole  centuries  elapsed  hetweeii  tliu 
landiii;;  of  tho  real  or  niythit'al  lletij^^t 
at  KIdistlect  and  tli(t  landing  of  Wllian. 
tlieCJomiueroriit  llastiiii^s  ;  while  under 
eijilit  centuries  elapsed  hetween  tho  time 
of  William  the  (!on<|ueror  and  the  ac- 
cession of  (^ueeti  Vii'toria.  IJiit,  just  as 
most  Kiijilish  histories  jxive  far  more 
Hpacc!  to  tli(!  throe  (JctituriessiiKro  Kliza- 
lietli  than  to  tho  eleven  centuries  which 
pre(!eded  them,  so  most  hooks  on  jjeol- 
otry  uive  far  more  space  to  the  sin^h; 
ii'on  (eml>racin;jf  the  secondary  and  ter- 
tiary periods)  which  comes  nearest  our 
own  time,  than  to  the  iiinea'ons  which 
spread  from  the  Ijaurentian  U)  the  Car- 
l/oniferoiis  epoch.  In  the  earliest  |)e- 
riod,  records  either  gcoloj^ical  or  his- 
torical are  wholly  wantin;i;  ;  i"*  tho  later 
periods  they  become  both  more  numer- 
ous and  more  varie<l  in  proportion  as 
they  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  our 
own  time. 

So,  too,  in  tho  days  when  Mr.  Dar- 
win tirst  took  away  the  breath  of  scien- 
tific Europe  by  his  startling;  thcoricR,  it 
used  confidently  to  be  said  that  geology 
had   shown   us   no   intermediate  form 


botweon  upecies  and  KpoeioK.  Kven  nt 
the  time  when  this  axsertion  wan  orii^- 
inally  made  it  wiis  <piite  untenable. 
All  early  geolojxical  forms,  (tf  whatever 
race,  beloiii;  to  what  we  foolishly  call 
"  yetierali/ed  "  types  :  that  is  to  nay, 
they  jtresent  a  mixture  of  featuren  now 
found  separatels  in  several  <lilTerent  ani- 
iiials.  In  other  words,  they  represent 
early  ancestors  of  all  the  inotlern  fortim, 
with  peculiariti)  s  intermediate  between 
tlios<(  of  their  more,  highly  ditferentiatt'd 
descetulalits  ;  and  hence  w«!  ought  to 
call  them  "  uiisp('cialii<:ed  "  rather  than 
"  generalized  "  types.  For  example, 
the  earliest  ancestral  horse  is  partly  a 
horse  aii<l  jwirtly  a  tapir  :  we  may  re- 
gard him  as  a  tirtium  «/iil(/,  a  middle 
term,  from  which  tlui  horse  has  varied 
in  one  direction  and  the  tapir  in  an- 
other, each  of  tlioin  exaggerating  cer- 
tain special  peculiarities  of  the  comnum 
ancestor  and  losing  others,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  eirciinistaiices  in  which 
they  have  been  plaeetl.  Science  is  now 
perp«'tually  discovering  intermediato 
forms,  many  of  which  compose  an  un- 
broken series  between  the  iinspecialized 
an<>estral  ty])e  and  the  familiar  modern 
creatures.  Thus,  in  this  very  case  of 
the  horse,  I'pdessor  Marsh  has  un- 
tirthiid  a  long  line  of  fossil  animals 
which  Iea<l  in  direct  descent  from  tho 
extremely  unhorse-like  eo(!cne  type  to 
the  developoil  Arab  of  our  own  times. 
Similarly  with  birds.  Professor  Huxhiy 
has  shown  that  there  is  hardly  any  gap 
between  the  very  bird-like  li/ar<ls  of 
tho  lias  and  the  very  lizard-liko  birds 
of  tho  oolite.  Such  li^^ks,  discovered 
afresh  every  day,  are  j)erpetual  denials 
to  the  old  parrot-like  cry  of  "  No  gco- 
lotrical  evidence  for  evolution." 


vin. 


CUC'.OO-PINT. 

In  tho  b  ink  which  supports  tho 
hedge,  beside  this  little  hanger  on  tho 
Hank  of  IMack  Down,  the  glossy  arrow- 
headed  leaves  of  tho  common  arum 
form  at  this  moment  beautiful  masses  of 
vivid  green  foliage.  "  Cuckoo-pint" 
is  the  pretty  poetical  old  English  nanio 
for  the  plant ;  but  village  children  know 


THE  KVOMTTIONIST  AT  T.AHUF. 


t77)  19 


Vm'U  nl 
I  wan  <>rii{- 

iiritfrialtio, 
f  wliiitcvor 
iliNlily  cull 

JH  to  »«y, 
ktiin'N  now 
iTcrrnt  »ni- 

■  rcpri'Mcnt 
Icrti  forfim, 
iv  Ix-twocn 
TcrcntidUul 

>,  oilf^llt.  to 
rather  tlinn 

■  rxnmplc, 
JH  jwirtly  n 
ro  may  ro- 
,  )i  iiikMIo 

lian  varii'd 
|iir  ill  an- 
ratiiij;  ccr- 
10  coiiinion 
in  uc(!or<U 
4  in  \vlii(-li 
•niu!  iH  now 
termed  iato 
i»H(!  an  iin- 
HfK'ciali/cd 
iar  modern 
ry  euHe  of 
I  has  iin- 
il    aninialH 

from  tho 
le  ty|)(!  to 
wn  times. 
)r  Iliixhjy 
y  any  jjap 
li/ards  of 
liku  Itirds 
[liHCoverod 
nl  deniulii 
'  No  gco- 


>orts  tho 
iv  on  tho 
wy  arrow- 
ion  arum 
masses  of 
koo-pint" 
;lis)i  namo 
Iron  know 


it  hotter  hy  tho  oqimlly  quaint  and 
faiieiriil  titin  of  *'  jord^  and  ludieH." 
'rh(?  arum  in  not  now  in  Ihnver  :  it 
hlopHoiiii'd  tiiiieh  (!arli«*r  in  tho  m>aHon, 
and  its  i|iiecr  chitttered  fruits  are  jiint  at 
jiruscnt  Hvvi'lliiit;  out  into  rather  sha|>o- 
leNH  little  lij^lit  ijreen  liiillts,  preparatory 
to  asHiiiiiiiiLC  the  liri^ht  eoral-red  hue 
whieh  inakcH  them  no  eonspiciioiiH 
niMonj;  the  hoili^erows  jhiriii;;  the  au- 
tiiiiin  months.  A  eiit-and-dry  technieal 
hotanist  would  thereforo  lit' "o  little  to 
Hay  to  it  in  its  present  stai^e,  heeaiise 
ho  ear«>s  only  for  thtt  th)wers  and  seeds 
whieh  help  him  in  his  dreary  elassitiea- 
tions,  and  i^ivo  him  so  s|)lendi<l  an  op- 
portunity for  displayini;  tho  treasures 
of  his  liUtinized  terininoloj^y.  Hut  to 
mo  the  plant  itself  is  tho  ct^ntral  point 
of  interest,  not  tho  names  (tnoHtly  in 
had  (Jreek)  l>y  which  this  or  that  local 
orchid -hunter  has  ondeavorod  to  earn 
iinmoi'tality, 

This  arum,  for  example,  pfrows  first 
from  a  small  hard  seed  with  a  sinj^Io 
loho  or  seod-leaf.  In  the  seed  there  is 
a  little  storu  of  standi  and  alliumen  laid 
up  by  tho  mother-plant,  on  which  the 
yoiuiij  arum  feeds,  just  a;*  truly  as  tlu' 
^^rowiii^  chick  feeds  on  tho  white; 
which  surrounds  its  native  yoik,  or  as 
you  and  I  food  on  tho  similar  starches 
and  alhumons  laid  l»y  for  the  use  of  the 
youn<(  plant  in  the}j;raiii  of  wheat,  or  for 
the  younu;  fowl  in  tho  ejjfj;.  Kull-irrown 
plants  livo  by  takin]i;  in  food-stutis  from 
tho  air  iinch-r  tho  intluonco  of  sunlisiht  ; 
hut  a  yoiinj;  seedlini^  can  no  more  feed 
itsolf  than  a  human  bahy  can  ;  and  so 
food  is  stored  up  for  it  beforehand  by 
tho  parent  stock.  As  tho  kernel  swells 
with  heat  and  moisture,  its  starches  and 
nlbiimens  jj;ot  oxidize<l  and  proibu^e  the 
motions  and  rearrangements  of  particles 
that  result  in  the  growth  r  a  new  plant. 
First  a  little  head  rises  tr,  .vard  tho  sun- 
light and  a  little  root  pushes  downward 
toward  the  moist  soil  beneath.  The 
business  of  the  root  is  to  collect  water 
for  the  circulating  medium — the  sap  or 
blood  of  the  plant — as  well  as  a  few 
mineral  matters  required  for  its  stem 
and  cells  ;  but  the  business  of  tho  head 
is  to  spread  out  into  leaves,  which  are 
the  real  mouths  and   stomachs  of   the 


compound  organism.  For  we  must 
never  forget  that  nil  pinnts  mainly 
grow,  not,  as  most  p(>oplo  nupposo, 
from  tlh'  earth,  but  from  tlie  air.  They 
are  f<»r  the  most  part  mere  masscH  of 
carboii'compoiinds,  and  the  carbon  in 
them  <*oiiii's  from  tht*  carbonic  acid 
ditTuned  throu<.;h  the  atmosphere  around, 
and  is  separated  by  the  sunlight  acting 
in  tho  leaves.  There  it  mixes  with 
small  iptatitities  of  hydrogiii  and  nitro- 
gen brought  by  the  roots  from  noil  and 
water  ;  and  the  stan-hcs  or  other  bodies 
thus  formetl  are  then  conveyed  by  tho 
sap  to  the  places  where  they  will  be  ro- 
qiiired  in  tlx;  economy  of  the  plant  sys« 
tein.  That  Ih  the  all-im|)ortant  fact  in 
vegetable  physiology,  just  as  the  diges- 
tion ami  assimilation  of  food  and  tho 
circMilution  of  tho  blood  are  in  our  own 
bodies. 

Tho  arum,  like  tho  grain  of  wheat, 
has  only  a  single  seed-leaf  ;  whereas 
tho  pea,  as  wo  all  know,  has  two.  This 
is  the  most  fundamental  ditfereiico 
among  tlowering  |)lants,  as  it  points 
back  to  an  early  and  deep-seate«l  mode 
of  growth,  about  \vhi(;h  they  must  havi! 
split  otf  from  one  another  millions  of 
years  ago.  All  tho  one-l(d)ed  plants 
grow  with  stems  like  grasses  or  bam- 
boos, formed  by  single  leaves  inclosing 
another  ;  all  the  double  lobed  plants 
grow  with  stems  like  an  oak,  formed  of 
concentric  layers  from  within  outward. 
As  soon  as  the  arum,  with  its  sprout- 
ing head,  has  raiacid  its  tirst  leaves  far 
enough  above  tho  ground  to  reach  tho 
sunlight,  it  begins  to  form  fresh  starches 
and  new  leaves  for  itself,  and  ceases  to 
bo  dependent  upon  tho  store  laid  up  in 
its  buried  lobe.  Most  seeds  acconling- 
ly  contain  just  enough  material  to  sup- 
[)ort  tho  young  seedling  till  it  is  in  a 
position  to  shift  for  itself  ;  and  this, 
of  course,  varies  greatly  with  the  habits 
and  manners  of  the  particular  species. 
Some  plants,  too,  such  as  the  {)otato, 
find  their  seeds  insufficient  to  keep  up 
the  race  by  themselves,  and  so  lay  by 
abundant  starches  in  underground 
branches  or  tubers,  for  tho  use  of  new 
shoots  ;  and  these  rich  starch  recepta- 
cles wo  ourselves  generally  utilize  aa 
food-stuffs,  to  the  manifest  detriment 


10  [78) 


Till  EVOI.irTIU.Mttr   AT   t.AiMK. 


of  tlio  yoiinjj  potntM-plunt*,  for  wlw>"t«» 
lii>iii'llt  llii'v  Mcri>  itriuiiiiilly  iiitomii'tl. 
Wt'll,  till'  iiriiiii  liiiK  no  Miii'li  vikliiikltlo  ro- 
ii>rv(>  iiH  tliiit  ;  it  ii  «'iirly  mni  ii|Mtti  it<« 
own  rt'MDiiri'i'ft,  iirul  no  it  nltiftM  for  it<«i'lf 
with  ri'Noliition.  \U  \t\\i,  uloM)'  It'itvuM 
Ijrow  ii|)ikci>,  uitil  MODii  llll  (lilt,  not  only 
witli  UTi'i'U  i'liloro|>liyl,  liitt  aUo  with  ii 
•lmr|>  itnd  |iiinif<'nt  (>MH<>ni-«  whifh  niiik)'<« 
them  liiiiii  till'  mouth  liko  I'liycnno  |m'|i- 

IM>r,  Tlii*  iirriil  jiiiro  \\m  Im'cii  iii'i|iiircil 
ly  tho  |)liint  IIH  II  tli'fiMii'u  ii^iiiiiHt  itn 
•neniioA.  Soriii<  <>iirly  iinocHtor  of  thi* 
nriunN  mntt  liavc  Ihm'ii  liuMi'  to  i-oiiHiunt 
iittiirkn  fruiii  niiiliitN,  j^oiits,  or  other 
hcriiivoroMH  iiniiniiU,  lunl  it  Iuih  iiilopt- 
oil  this  inciitiH  of  ri'(M'Hiti|;  thoir  ml 
vnnrt'H.  In  otlii-r  wonU,  tliosc  iininis 
Mfhit'h  worn  nioHt  |iiiliitiiM<'  to  tho  nih- 
bitn  itot  I'liti'n  up  mill  ili'stroyi'il,  wliilf 
thoMc  whirli  \M>ri'  ii!iHtii!Ht  hiirvivi'il,  iiml 
hiimli'il  <lown  thi'ir  |tiinj,;«'ni;y  to  fiituri' 
(Ji'iii'riitioii-*.  .lust  in  tin;  >*!iiiii'  way  iii't- 
tli'H  liiivi'  iici|uirnl  tlicir  stini(  imil  this- 
tlt'K  llii'ir  |»ri»'l:l»'M,  which  fflli-it'iilly  pro- 
ti'i'l  tlii'in  iiu'iiitiHt  all  lii'riiivori'?*,  cxrcpi 
the  patit-'iit,  liiiiijfry  donkoy,  who  )jjriiti'. 
fully  accepts  tlioiii  iih  n  Hort  of  miicf 

l>i(/H(ntfl'   to  tllO   HUl'fulrllt    HtcUH. 

Ami  now  till!  arum  licj^inn  its  jxrciit 
preparations  for  the  at!t  of  tlowerini;. 
Kvcryhody  known  the  general  nhape  of 
the  arum  hlossom — if  not  in  our  own 
purple  eui'koo-pint,  at  leiiHt  in  the  bi^ 
white  "  I'Uhiopian  lilies"  wliieh  form 
Miii;h  freijuent  ornameiitHof  eottai^e  win- 
down.  (Mearly,  this  is  ii  llower  which 
the  plant  eannot  proiluee  without  lay- 
iiii;  u[>  a  ^;uo(l  stock  of  material  hefore- 
hieid.  So  its  .sets  to  work  acciimulat- 
ii  starch  in  its  root.  This  starch  it 
n  .nufactures  in  its  leaves,  ami  then 
buries  deep  undiT  ijirouml  in  ii  tuber,  by 
means  of  the  sap,  so  us  to  Hoouro  it 
from  the  attacks  of  rodents,  who  too 
freipicntly  appropriate  to  themselves 
the  food   intendod   by  plants  for  (»thi;r 

I)urposps.  If  you  examine  the  tuber 
xiforc  the  arum  has  blossomed,  you  will 
find  it  hiru^o  and  nolid  ;  but  if  you  di^ 
it  up  in  tho  autumn  after  the  Heeds  have 
ripened,  you  will  see  that  it  is  tlaceid 
and  drained  ;  all  its  starches  and  other 
contents  have  gone  to  make  up  the 
flower,  the  fruit,  and  tho  stalk  which 


boro  them.  Hut  the  tubor  hri«  n  fur* 
ther  protectiitn  ii;;ain'«t  eiiemien  benideH 
itn  deep  iinderuroiind  nonitiott.  It  con- 
tain* an  acrid  juice  like  that  of  the 
leaven,  which  Niitllcicutl  v  ^llarlU  it 
itk^ainut  foiir-fooleil  depreiiatorN.  Man, 
however,  that  mo-^t  per»»i>«tent  of  pemo- 
eiitor<«,  ban  found  out  a  way  to  Neparatn 
till'  juice  from  the  Ntarch  ;  and  in  St. 
Helena  the  bi^  white  uriiiii  H  culti> 
vated  an  u  fond  plant,  and  yieldn  the 
meal  in  coiiiniou  use  aiiioii^  the  in- 
lial>itiint<4. 

When  the  aruin  has  laid  by  vnoui^h 
ntarch  to  make  a  tbiwer  it  be^^i  m  to  neiid 
up  a  tall  ntalk,  on  the  top  >f  which 
^rown  the  curiou-4  liDoded  blosiom  ' 
known  to  bn  one  of  tho  earlii'st  forms 
ntill  niirvivini;  upon  earth.      Hut  now  its 

object  is  to  attract.  Hot  to  repel,  the 
animal  world  ;  for  it  is  an  inscct-fertib 
ized  tlower,  and  it  reipiires  the  aid  of 
nmall  flies  to  carry  the  pnlleii  fmm  bios- 
som  to  blossiiin.  \'\n  this  purpose  it 
ban  a  pur|»lu  nlieath  around  its  head  of 
tlowers  and  a  tall  spike  on  which  they 
are  arran;^ed  in  two  clusters,  the  miilo 
blonsomn  abovi^  and  the  feiniilo  below. 
This  npike  is  bright  yellow  in  the  culti- 
vated species.  The  fertilization  is  one 
of  the  most  interentiin;  epinoden  in  all 
nature,  but  it  would  tak(>  too  loii);  to 
describe  here  in  full.  The  tlics  go  from 
one  arum  to  another,  attracted  by  the 
color,  in  search  of  pollen  ;  and  the  pis. 
tils,  or  female  flowers,  ripen  first. 
Then  th(>  pollen  falls  from  the  stamenn 
or  male  llowers  on  the  bodies  of  the 
flies,  and  dusts  them  all  over  with  yel- 
low powder.  The  insects,  when  once 
they  have  entered,  are  im[)risoned  until 
the  polh'ii  is  ready  to  drop,  by  means 
of  several  little  hairs,  pointing;  down- 
ward, and  prcventintj;  their  exit  on  tho 
priiKiiple  of  an  eel- trap  or  lobster-pot. 
nut  as  soon  as  the  [tollen  is  discharfjed 
the  h'lirs  wither  away,  and  then  the  flies 
arc  free  to  visit  a  second  arum.  Hero 
they  carry  the  fertilizini;  dust  with 
which  they  arc  covered  to  the  ripe  iiis- 
tils,  and  no  enable  them  to  set  their 
seed  ;  but,  instead  of  getting  away 
again  as  soon  as  they  have  eaten  their 
fill,  they  arc  once  more  imprisoned  by 
the  lobstor-pot  hairs,  and  dusted  with  a 


Tin:  Kvoi.rTnoNfHT  at  i.auwb. 


l»Jtl 


r  lifH  n  fiir« 

tllil'W    t)fllil|(i|| 

'•»!.      It  con- 

•  Ittf    of   tlio 
u'liiiriU    it 

•  •TM.        .\futl, 
•If     Itf    jMTHO. 

to  Hcjijirntn 

ami   til  St. 

Ml    iH    nilti- 

1     )it'|l|H     t|ll< 

•irf    tliii    ill. 

•y  tMiDiij^li 
kI  It  to  ncihI 
'{    wliidi 

I         l>lo>tMII|||  ' 

ilit'Nt  f.iriiiH 
Itiit  how  itH 
'   ri'|M.|,  III.. 

IHrct-flTlil- 

tlio  aid  of 

I  rroiii  MoH- 

|>iir(M)ri(>  it 

itH  liciirl  of 
uliiili  tli.-y 

^1^,  I  lit'  iimlf! 

iiilo  lu'Iow. 

in  tlic  ciilti- 

itioii  is  iiiin 

NOrlcH   ill  ;||| 

<>o  loiij;  ti) 
it'H  yo  from 
t<'<l  l.y  tli.f 
ikI  till'  pis. 
•ipcii  tii-ht. 
Ill'  htaiiitiiis 
li<'s  of  tlio 
r  with  yi'I- 
iVilCIl  oiico 
loMcd  until 

l)y  nn'aiis 
inji  (lown- 
xit  on  the 
>i>stpr-|)ot. 
lis(!lmrfifo(l 
.'11  the  tlios 
in.  1 1  (MO 
lust  with 
u  ripo  j»ls- 

Hot  their 
ng  away 
aton  their 
soned  hy 
«d  with  a 


Mioortil  dop»o  of  |»olli<n,  wlilih  thyy  nirri" 
iiway  ill  turn  to  u  third  l>|oit«oiii, 

A*  noiMi  iM  th<<  pi«tilit  liavi'  hrt*!!  iiii- 
pr<>^nati>il,  tlm  frititN  liKj^in  to  m>i.  ||i*ri< 
th<*v  'ir<>,  on  their  tall  Mpik'<,  whom'  in- 
rlxsiii^  -lii'iith  hut  how  witlnri'd  awiiy, 
whilf  ilit<  top  U  lit  thin  iiioiiii'iit  itlowly 
dwiiii|liii){,  MO  that  only  the  I'liiKti-r  of 
ix'rrit'H  at  itn  lutsi*  will  linully  ri-iiiain. 
Tin'  lirrrifK  will  mwuII  and  ^row  noft,  till 
in  aiitiiiiin  they  lifcuint'  a  lifitiitifiil  Hi'ur- 
let  t'liiKtiT  of  livili);f  roral,  Tlu'll  oiici' 
iiirtro  thfir  olijcct  will  In*  to  nttrai't  the 
atiiiniil  w'urlil,  thin  tiiiic  in  tin*  HJiapi*  of 
III  Id  iiii'')*,  Hi|iiirrt<U,  and  hihuII  InrdH  ; 
hilt  with  a  iiini-it  tn-achiToiiH  inli'tit. 
I'or  thoiii^h  tho  hcrrifn  arn  ln'itntifiil 
and  palat.ililit  fnoii;;li  they  aro  deadly 
poiHon.  The  rohiiiH  or  Minall  rodents 
which  eat  them,  attracted  hy  their 
hi'i^lit  eoloiH  and  pleasant  taitte,  not 
only  aid  in  dispersiii<^  them,  Imt  also 
die  after  iiwallowin^  them,  and  liecoine 
hiij^e  manure  heaps  for  the  growth  of 
the  yoiiiij;  plant.  So  the  wlmle  cycli' 
uf  arum  e\istenco  l)e;;inM  airesh,  niid 
then)  in  hardly  a  plant  in  the  tiehl 
around  me  which  hart  not  u  hirttory  an 
atraiii;c  iih  thirt  one. 


IX. 

IlKltUIF.H    ANI>    IIKItHIKH. 

TiiiH  liltk'  chine,  opening  toward  the 
Hca  tliroti;;li  tho  Mik;  lias  elitfs,  has  heen 
worn  to  its  present  pretty  fjor^e-like 
depth  l»y  the  hIow  iK-tion  of  its  tiny 
Btruam — a  mere  thread  of  water  in  tine 
weaiher,  that  trickles  down  its  centre 
in  a  series  of  miissy  cascades  to  tho 
Hliiiijjly  heach  helow.  Its  sides  are 
ovor;;rown  hy  hramldcs  and  other  prick- 
ly hnisliwood,  which  form  in  pla<'es  a 
matted  and  irii[)enetral)lo  mass  ;  for  it 
is  the  habit  of  all  plaiitH  protected  hy 
tho  defensive  armor  of  spines  or  thorns 
to  chiHter  toj^c^ther  in  serried  ranks, 
throuirh  which  cattle  or  other  intrunivi! 
aniinaU  <;annot  break.  Amonj;  them, 
near  tho  down  above,  I  have  just  light- 
ed upon  a  rare  plant  for  Southoni 
liritain — a  wild  raspberry-bush  in  full 
fruit.  Raspberries  are  common  enouufh 
in  Scotland  amonfj  heans  of  stones  on 
tho  windiest  hillsides  ;  but  tho  south  of 


Knufland  i«  tn<ii  wnnii  nnd  •Iclily  for 
their  roJMitt  tMNteN,,  and  they  ran  only 
bo  found  here  in  a  few  bleulc  Kpotn  lik« 
the  Mtony  t>)l|/et«  of  thin  weatlierdtenton 

down  above  the  chine.      The  fruit  itself 
in  ipiite  an  ^oimI  as  the  garden  variety, 
for  eiiltiviition  han  added   little  to  t(i« 
native  virtue)*  (if  the  riii«plM>rrv.     <»ooi| 
I  ohl   Uaae   Walton    in   not   aniianieil    to 
!  (piote  a  certain  (piaint  nayitii;  of  one  |>r. 
I  Itotcler  concerning  ntrawberrien,  und  ho 
j  I  niippone  I  nee(J  not   be  afraid  to  i|itote 
it    after  him.      "  hoiibtless,"   xaid   tho 
Moetor,  "  (io(|  rnii/il  have    made   a  bet- 
ter berry,  itut  doiibtlenn  aUo   (tod  lievef 
did."       Neverth'lenn,    if    you  try    tho 
raj'pberry,  picked  frenli,  with   plenty  of 
^ood   country  cream,    yoii    munt  allow 
that  it  runs  itn  nintur  fruit  a  iieck-and- 
neek  race. 

To  compare  the  ntructiiro  of  n  rasp- 
berry with  that  of  a  strawberry  is  a  very 
instructive  botanical  study.  It  nliowa 
how  similar  eaus(>s  may  prodiii'e  tho 
same  (;ross  result  in  nin^iilarly  ditTereiit 
ways.  Jtoth  are  rones  by  family,  and 
both  have  flowern  essentially  similar  li) 
that  of  the  cuiiiiiion  dojj-roMu.  Hut 
even  in  plants  where  the  tlowern  are 
alike,  the  fruits  often  dilTer  conspicu- 
ously, beciiuH(!  fresh  principles  come  in- 
to play  for  the  dispersion  and  nafe  ger- 
mination of  the  see(|.  This  makes  tho 
study  of  fruitn  the  most  (MUiiplicated 
part  in  the  niiravellin^  of  plant  lifo. 
.\fter  the  strawberry  has  blossoiiie  1,  tho 
pulpy  receptachi  on  which  it  boic  it* 
j^reen  fruitlets  bei;inH  to  swell  and  red- 
den, till  at  leiiLTth  it  (jffows  into  an  edi- 
ble berry,  doltcil  with  little  yellow 
nuts,  containin<{  each  a  siiij>;le  s(!e(|. 
Hut  in  tho  raspberry  it  is  tho  separate 
fruitlets  themselves  which  t;row  soft  and 
briLCht-colored,  while  iIk!  receptatiht  re- 
mains white  and  tasteless,  forniiiii;  tho 
'•  hull  "  which  wo  pull  off  from  the 
berry  when  wo  are  j?oinj;  to  eat  it. 
Thus  tho  part  of  tho  raspberry  which 
we  throw  away  answers  to  the  part  of 
tho  strawberry  which  wo  eat.  Only,  in 
the  raspberry  tho  separate  fruitlets  are 
all  crowded  close  together  into  a  sinj^lo 
united  mass,  while  in  the  strawberry 
they  aro  scattered  about  loosely,  and 
imbedded  in  tho  soft  flesh  of  tho  re- 


23  180J 


THK  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUUK. 


ccptiiflo.  Tlio  l)I:ickliorry  is  imotiiorl 
cluso  rolativo  ;  l»iit  in  its  fruit  tiio  littlo 
|)iil|)y  fniifii'tH  rliiii;  to  tlio  ro»'t'|ttHcU', 
HO  tliat  Wi>  pick  and  rat  tluMii  both  to- 
fji'tluT  ;  wluTi'a.H  ill  tlio  raspborry  tlu' 
rcct'ptai'lo  j>iills  out  oasily,  and  Icavos  a 
titiuiMf-sluipcd  hollow  ill  tiio  iiiiddlf  of 
tlu'  Ix-rry.  Kacli  t>f  tiicsi*  litlU*  poi  uli- 
nritics  lias  a  special  inoatiiii^  «)f  its  o>vii 
u)  lilt'  history  of  tlic  «lil!t'ivut  plants. 

Vet  tlio  main  ol>j»'ct  attainod  Ity  all  is 
in  tlio  I'lid  pii'cisoly  similar.  Straw- 
horrii's,  rasphorrii's,  and  Maokbcrii's  all 
Ix'loni;  to  till'  class  of  attractivo  fruits. 
They  survive  in  virtuo  ot"  the  attention 
paid  to  them  by  birds  and  sii.  >ll  ani- 
nials.  .lust  as  the  wild  sti;;\v berry  which 
I  picked  in  the  hedjiterow  the  other  day 
procures  the  dispersion  of  its  hard  and 
indii^estible  fruit  lets  by  p'ttiiiLf  them 
eaten  to;x«'ther  with  the  pulpy  reccpta- 
olo,  so  does  tiie  raspberry  procuro  the 
dispersion  of  its  soft  and  sugary  fruit- 
lets  by  gettint;  them  eaten  all  by  them- 
selves. While  the  strawberry  fruitlets 
retain  throu«j;hout  their  dry  outer  eoat- 
iiij;,  in  those  of  the  raspberry  the  ex- 
ternal coverin>j  becoi'.ies  lleshy  and  red, 
but  the  iniii'r  seed  has,  notwithstand- 
ing:, u  '"^till  harder  shell  than  the  tiny 
nuts  of  the  strawberry.  Now,  this  is 
tlio  secret  of  nine  fruits  out  of  ten. 
They  are  really  nuts,  which  clothe 
themselves  in  an  oiilcr  tunic  i>f  sweet 
and  beautifully  colored  J>ulp.  The  pulp 
as  it  were,  the  plant  t;ives  in,  as  an  in- 
ducement to  the  frieiully  bird  to  swal- 
h)w  its  seed  ;  but  the  seed  itself  it  pro- 
tects by  a  hard  stone  or  shell,  and  often 
by  poisonous  or  bitter  juices  within.  AVe 
see  this  arraiii>'eiiu'nt  very  conspicuously 
in  a  plum,  or  still  better  in  a  mango  ; 
thouii'li  ii  is  really  just  as  evident  in  the 
raspberry,  whore  the  smaller  size  ren- 
ders it  less  eonspioiioiis  to  human  slsjht. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  about  the  loso 
family  that  they  have  a  very  marked 
teiulenoy  to  produce  such  lleshy  fruits, 
instead  of  the  more  dry  seed-vessels  of 
ordinary  plants,  which  are  named  fruits 
only  by  botanical  oourte:\y.  For  ex- 
ample, wo  owe  to  this  sinijio  family  the 
peach,  plum,  apricot,  cherry,  diuuson, 
pear,  ap[)le,  medlar,  and  quince,  Jill  of 
tlieiu  cultivated  in  gardens  or  orchai'ds 


for  their  fruits.  Tho  minor  j^ronp 
known  by  tho  poetical  name  of  HryaiU, 
alone  supplies  us  with  tho  straw  bi'rry, 
raspberry,  blackberry,  and  dewberry. 
Kven  tho  wilder  kinds,  refused  as  fotxl 
by  man,  produce  berries  well  known  to 
our  winter  birds — the  haw,  rose-hip, 
sloe,  bird-cherry,  and  rowan.  On  the 
other  hand,  tho  whole  tribe  nuiiibers 
but  a  siiiijle  thorouj^huoiiiiX  nut — the 
almond  ;  und  even  this  nut,  always 
somewhat  soft-shelled  and  inclined  to 
pulpiness,  has  produtiod  by  a  "  sport" 
tho  wholly  fruit-liko  nectarine.  The 
odd  tliinij  about  the  rose  tribe,  how- 
over,  is  this  :  that  the  pul|)y  tendency 
shows  itself  in  very  tlilTercnt  jiarts 
amony;  the  various  species.  In  the 
plum  it  is  tho  «»uter  coverinu;  «tf  the  true 
iruit  which  grows  soft  and  colored  ;  in 
the  apple  it  is  a  swollen  mass  of  the 
fruit-stalk  surroundiiii;  the  ovules  ;  in 
the  rose-hip  it  is  the  hollowed  re«'epta- 
cio  ;  and  in  the  strawberry  it  is  tho 
same  receptacle,  bulging  out  in  the  op- 
l)Ositc  direction.  Such  a  general  tend- 
ency to  display  color  and  collect  sugary 
juices  in  so  many  diverse  parts  may  bo 
comparetl  to  tho  general  bulbous  tend- 
ency of  the  tiger-lily  or  the  onion,  and 
to  the  general  succulent  tendency  of  the 
cactus  or  the  house-leek.  In  each  case, 
the  plant  benefits  by  it  in  one  form  or 
another  ;  and  whichever  form  happens 
to  get  tho  start  in  any  particular  in- 
stance is  increased  and  developed  by 
natural  selection,  just  as  favorable  vari- 
eties oi  fruits  or  llowers  are  iiii'reased 
and  developed  in  cultivated  species  by 
our  own  ganleners. 

Sweet  juices  and  bright  coh>rs,  how- 
ever, could  bo  of  no  use  to  a  plant  till 
there  were  eyes  to  see  and  tonguos  to 
taste  them.  A  i>ulpy  fruit  is  in  itself  a 
mere  waste  of  protluetive  energy  to  its 
mother,  unless  tho  pulpiness  aids  iu  tho 
dispersion  and  promotes  tho  welfare  of 
tho  voung  seedlings.  Accordingly,  wo 
might  naturally  expect  that  there  would 
bo  no  fruit-bearers  on  the  earth  until 
the  time  wlien  fruit-eaters,  actual  or 
potentiiU,  arrived  npon  tho  scene  ;  or, 
to  put  it  more  correctly,  both  must  in- 
evitably have  developed  simultaneously 
and  in  mutual  depondenco    upon  one 


anotl 

eulcll 

as  th| 

Tlu' 

tootlj 

ards 

Hoa-nl 

priml 

wonil 

marsi 

do  V  ill 

the  \| 

soft 

time 

pres^ 

tho 

the 

presi 

then 

thi' 

tho 

owy 

eatii 

Hies 

logic 

tirst 

tho 

back 

tho  J 

suck 

eato 

inov 

No 

boo 

and 


TUK   KVDl.rriONIST   AT    LAUUK. 


181J  98 


iiiior  jjroiij) 
•'  o(  Divmis, 
stniwIxTrv, 
I  tlowlioiry. 
ihcmI  as  food 
H  known  to 
w,  rosc-liip, 
"I.  On  till" 
ill*'  niinilu'i's 
in;    „„t_tlu, 

nut,     always 
inolini'tl  to 
H   "  sport" 
irino.       'riii« 
trilio.   Iiow- 
»y  tcntlt'iioy 
Vrcnt    part's 
i'!*.      In    till' 
i'  tif  tlii<  true 
I't'lori'ii  ;  in 
miss  ot"  tlio 
ovuli's  ;  in 
hhI  roccpta- 
y   it   is  tliu 
t  in  till'  op- 
'in'ial  tcnil- 
Jlt'i't  sugary 
irts  may  ho 
ll'oiis  tonil- 
oiiion,  anil 
t'ncy  of  the 
I  oai'li  case, 
lie  form  or 
Ml  li.'ippens 
t it'll lar  in- 
elopoil    by 
>r»l>lc  vnri- 
I  iiicroaseil 
s]»eoiL'8  by 

lors,  how- 
i  plant  till 
^onjviioa  to 
in  itself  a 
-'r«y  to  its 
ills  in  the 
welfare  of 
insjly,  wo 
ere  would 
ii'th  until 
uctual   or 
!cno  ;  or, 
must  in< 
tunoously 
ipon  one 


nnotlier.  So  wo  (Ind  no  triioes  of  sut'- 
rnli'iit  fruits  evi'ii  in  so  late  a  formation 
lis  that  of  tlii'si>  lias  or  cretarrous  rlills. 
The  birds  of  that  day  were  tierce- 
toothed  earnivores,  devonriiiiX  the  Tu- 
ards  and  saiirians  of  the  rank  low-lyini; 
Bea-marshes  ;  the  mammals  were  most 
primeval  kaiiijaroos  or  low  nnei'stral 
wombats,  jicntle  herbivores,  or  savaije 
nuirsiipial  wolves,  like  the  Tasmaniaii 
devil  of  our  own  times.  It  is  only  in 
the  very  modern  tertiary  period,  whose 
soft  muddy  deposits  have  not  yet  had 
time  to  harden  under  superineuiubent 
pressure  into  solid  stone,  that  we  liiul 
the  earliest  traees  of  tho  rose  family, 
the  [greatest  fruit-bearint;  tribe  of  our 
])rosent  worM.  And  side  by  side  with 
them  we  tiud  their  elever  aboreal  allies, 
the  aneestial  monkeys  and  squirrels, 
the  primitive  robins,  and  the  yet  shail- 
owy  forefathers  of  our  mi>dern  fruit- 
ealinif  parrots,  .lustas  beesaud  b.itler- 
tlies  neeess;irily  traiH'  baek  their  jjjeo- 
loi^ieal  history  only  to  tho  time  of  the 
first  honey-bearintx  tlowers,  .and  just  as 
the  honey-beariui;  tlowers  in  turn  trace 
bai  k  their  pediijree  only  to  tin;  date  of 
the  rudest  and  i  lostunspecialized  honcy- 
suckiiijn"  insects,  so  are  fruits  iind  fruit- 
eaters  linked  toijether  in  orii^in  by  the 
inevitable  bond  of  a  mutual  dependence. 
No  bee,  Jio  honey  ;  and  no  lioiii>y,  no 
bi'c  :  so,  too,  no  fruit,  no  fruit-bird  ; 
and  no  fruit-bii- 1,  no  fruit. 


X. 

nisr.VNT   llh^LATlONS. 

Rkimnu  the  old  mill,  whose  overshot 
wheel,  backed  by  a  wall  thickly  covered 
with  the  youiiii  ereepinu;  fronds  of  hart's, 
tonguo  ferns,  forms  such  u  picturesi|ue 
foresj;round  for  the  view  of  our  little 
valley,  the  mill-stream  expands  into  a 
small,  shallow  pond,  overhung  at  its 
edijcs  by  '.lick-set  hazel  -  bushes  and 
clamboriuij  honeysuckle.  Of  course  it 
is  only  dammed  back  by  a  mud  wall, 
with  sluices  for  the  miller's  water- 
power  ;  but  it  has  a  certain  rustic  sim- 
plicity of  its  own,  which  makes  it  beau- 
tiful to  our  eyes  for  all  that,  in  spite  of 
its  utilitarian  oric^in.  At  tho  bottom  of 
this  shallow  pond  yi>u  niay   now  sec  a 


miracle  daily  takinj»  pla("e,  which  but 
for  its  commomiess  we  should  rej^ard  as 
an  almost  incredible  marvel.  You  may 
there  behold  evolution  actually  illustrat- 
iuij  the  transformation  of  life  under 
your  very  eyes  :  you  may  watch  a  low 
type  of  fiill-brcathiii}^  gristly-boiu'd  tisli 
developiuj;  into  the  liin;hi'st  form  of 
luiii;  -  brcathiii};  terrestrial  amphibian. 
Nay,  more — you  may  almost  discover 
the  earliest  known  ancestor  of  the  wholo 
vertebrate  kind,  the  l;i.-.t  ctuisin  of  that 
once  famous  ascidian  larva,  passing; 
through  all  the  upward  staii'cs  of  exist- 
ence which  liiially  lead  it  to  assume  the 
shape  of  a  relatively  perfect  four-Ici>ued 
animal.  For  the  pond  is  swarm iiii; 
with  fat  black  tadpoles,  which  are  just 
at  this  moment  losiiiij  their  tails  and 
developiiiiX  tlieir  leu;s,  on  the  way  to  bo- 
coming'  fully  f«;nned  froiX^*. 

The  tadpoli-  and  the  ascidian  larvii 
divivlc  between  them  the  honor  of 
preserviiiLC  ft»r  us  in  all  its  native  sim- 
[tlicity  the  primitive  aspect  of  tin*  ver- 
tebrate type,  lleasts,  birds,  reptiles, 
and  fishes  havelill  descended  from  an 
animal  whose  shape  closely  resembled 
thatof  these  wriiiL^lini;;  little  black  creat- 
ures which  dart,  up  and  down  like 
imps  throuixh  the  clear  water,  and  raise 
a  cloud  of  mud  above  their  heads  each 
time  that  they  bury  themselves  com- 
fortably in  the  soft  mud  of  the  bottom. 
But  while  the  birds  and  beasts,  on  tho 
one  hand,  have  <>;one  on  better! iiij  them- 
selves out  of  all  knowledi^e,  and  while 
the  ascidian,  on  the  other  hand,  in  his 
adult  form  has  dropped  back  into  an 
obscure  aiul  sedentary  life — sans  eye^s, 
sans  teeth,  sans  taste,  sans  everythinij 
— the  tadpole  alone,  at  least  duriiiij  its 
early  days,  remains  true  to  the  ances- 
tral  traditions  of  the  vertebrate  family. 
When  first  it  emerijes  from  its  ei^ij  it 
represents  the  very  most  rudimentary 
animal  with  a  backbone  known  to  our 
scientilic  teachers.  It  has  a  biij  ham- 
mer-lookinjjj  head,  and  a  set  of  branch- 
iuij  outside  sjjills,  and  a  short  distinct 
body,  and  a  lomj  semi-transparent  tail. 
Its  backbone  is  a  mere  gristly  channel, 
in  which  lies  its  spinal  cord.  As  it 
grows,  it  rosembies  in  every  particular 
tho  ascidian  larva,  with  which,  indeed, 


24  [83J 


THE   EVOLUTIONIST   AT  LAIUiE. 


Kownlowsky  nnd  Profoasor  Hiiy  Lan- 
kostur  liuvu  (loinoriHtrntcd  its  I'Hsential 
ideiitiiy.       But    Hinuu    n  ^rreat   many 

1»eoj>Ic  «ei'in  wroii},>;Iy  to  irna^inu  that 
'rofoHsur  Lunkostcr'H  opinion  on  this 
inattor  in  in  Homo  way  at  varianco  witli 
Mr.  Darwin's  and  J)r.  Ilaeckol's,  it 
may  he  well  to  consider  what  the  de- 
fioiK.'rac^y  of  the  HS(;idian  really  moans. 
Tiie  fact  is,  hotli  larval  forms- -tlwit  of 
tlio  fro;jf  and  that  of  the  ascidian — com- 

Idetoly  ajjreo  in  the  position  of  their 
•rains,  their  fijill-slits,  their  very  rudi- 
mentary hacivhones,  and  their  spinal 
cords.  Moreover,  we  ourselves  and  the 
tinlpole  ai^reo  with  the  ascidian  in  a  fur- 
ther most  important  point,  which  no  in- 
vtrtchrate  animal  shares  with  us  ;  and 
that  is  that  our  eyes  j^row  out  of  our 
brains,  instead  of  being  part  of  our 
skin,  us  in  insects  and  cuttle-fish.  This 
would  seem  a  jtriori  a  most  inconven- 
ient place  for  an  eye — inside  the  brain  ; 
but  then,  as  Professor  Lankester  clev 
erly  suggests,  our  common  original  an- 
cestor, the  very  earliest  vertebrate  of 
all,  must  have  been  a  transparent  creat- 
ure, and  therefore  connparatively  in- 
dilferent  as  to  the  part  of  his  body  in 
which  his  eye  happened  to  be  placed. 
In  after  ages,  however,  as  vertebrates 
generally  got  to  have  thicker  skulls  and 
tougher  skins,  the  eye-bearing  part  of 
the  brain  luid  to  grow  outward,  and  so 
reach  the  light  on  the  surface  of  the 
body  :  a  thing  which  actually  happens 
to  all  birds,  beasts,  and  reptiles  in  the 
course  of  their  embryonic  development. 
So  that  in  this  respect  the  ascidian  larva 
is  nearer  to  the  original  type  than  the 
tadpole  or  any  other  existing  animal. 

The  ascidian,  however,  in  mature 
life,  has  grown  degraded  and  fallen 
from  liis  high  estate,  owing  to  liis  bad 
habit  of  rooting  himself  to  a  rock  and 
there  settling  down  into  a  mere  seden- 
tary swallower  of  passing  morsels — a 
blind,  handless,  footless,  and  degenerate 
thing.  In  his  later  shape  he  is  but  a 
sack  fixed  to  a  stone,  and  with  all  his 
limbs  and  higher  sense-organs  so  com- 
pletely atrophied  that  only  his  earlier 
history  allows  us  to  recognize  hini  as  a 
vertebrate  by  descent  at  all.  Ho  is  in 
fact  a   representative   of  retrogressive 


dovelopmont.    The  tadpole,  on  the  con- 
trary, goes  on  swimming  about  freely, 
and    keeping  the  use   oJF  its  eyes,  till 
at  lust  a  pair  of  Iiind  legs  and  then  a 
pair  of  fore  legs  begin  to  l)ud  out  from 
its  side,  and  its  tail  fades  away,  and  its 
gills  disappear,  and  air-breathing  lunga 
take  their  place,  and  it  boldly  hops  on 
idioro  a  fully  evolved  tailless  amphibian. 
There  is,  however,    one   inter(!sting 
question  about  these  two  larvie  which  I 
should  nuich  likn  to  solve.  The  ascidian 
has  only  one  eye  inside  its  useless  brain, 
while  the  tadpole  and  all   other  verte- 
brates have  two   from   the    very   first. 
Now  which  of  us  most  nearly  represents 
the  old  mud-loving  vertebrate  an(!estor 
in   this   respect  ?     Ilavo   two   original 
organs  coalesced  in  the  young  ascidian, 
or  has  one  organ  split  up  into  a  couple 
with  the   rest   of  the  class  ?     I  think 
the  latter  is  the  true  supposition,   and 
for  this  reason  :    In    our   heads,    and 
those  of  all  vertebrates,  there  is  a  curi- 
ous cross-connection  between  the  eyes 
and  the  brain,  so  that  tho   right  optic 
nerve  goes  to  the  left  side  of  the  brain 
and  the  left  optic  nerve  goes  to  the  right 
side.     In  higher  animals,  this  "  decus- 
sation,"  as  anatomists  eallit,  affects  all 
the  sense-organs  except  those  of  smell  ; 
but  in  fishes  it  only  affects  the  eyes. 
Xow,  as  the  young  ascidian  has  retained 
the  ancestral  position  of  his  almost  use- 
less eye  so  steadily,  it  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  he  has  retained  its  other 
peculiarities  as  well.     May  we  not  con- 
clude, therefore,  that  the  primitive  ver- 
tebrate had  only  one  brain-eye  ;    but 
that  afterward,  as  this  brain-eye  grew 
outward  to  the  surface,  it  split  up  into 
two,  because  of  the  elongated  and  flat- 
tened form  of  the  head   in  swimming 
animals,  while  its  two  halves  still  kept 
up  a  memory  of  their  former  union  in 
the  cross-connection  with  the  opposite 
halves  of  the  brain  ?     If  this  be  so,  then 
we  might  suppose  that  the  other  organs 
followed  suit,  so  as  to  prevent  confusion 
in  the  brain  between  the  two  sides  of 
the  body  ;  while  the  nose,  which  stands 
in  the  centre  of  the  face,  was  under  no 
liability  to  such   error,   and  therefore 
still  keeps  up  its  primitive  direct  ar- 
rangement. 


It 

tadft 
brat* 
prin 
still 
is  ki 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT   LA  HUE. 


[83]  85 


on  tho  con- 
uiit  freely, 

eyes,  till 
uid  then  n 
I  out  from 
(ly,  and  its 
liin^  lungs 
ly  hops  on 
iMiphibian. 
interesting 
ie  which  I 
10  use  id  inn 
less  hrain, 
lier  verte- 
kery    first, 
represents 
u  ancestor 
>   original 
<;  ascidian, 
3  a  conpio 

I  think 
tion,   and 
!ads,    and 
is  a  curi- 
the   eyes 
ght  optic 
the  brain 
)  the  ritrht 
"  dccus- 
affects  all 
of  smell  ; 
the  eyes. 
1  retained 
nost  usc- 
>nal)Ie  to 
its  other 
not  con- 
itive  vcr- 
ye  ;    but 
yc  grow 
up  into 
and  flat- 
t'imming 
itill  kept 
union  in 
opposite 
so, then 
r  organs 
infusion 
sides  of 
1  stands 
ndor  no 
lerefore 
rect  ar- 


Tt  is  worth  noting,  too,  that  these 
tadpoles,  like  all  other  very  low  verte- 
brates,  are  mud-haunters  ;  and  the  most 
primitive  among  adult  vertebrates  are 
still  cartilaginous  mud-tish.  Not  much 
is  known  geologically  about  the  prede- 
cessors of  frogs  ;  the  tailless  amphibians 
are  late  arriv  ',1s  upon  earth,  and  it  may 
seem  curious,  therefore,  that  they 
should  recall  in  so  iiumy  ways  the  earli- 
est ancestral  ty[)e.  The  reason  doubt- 
less is  because  they  aro  so  much  given 
to  larval  development.  Some  ancestors 
of  theirs — primeval  newts  or  salaman- 
ders— nuist  have  gone  on  for  countless 
centuries  improving  themselves  in  their 
adult  shape  from  age  to  age,  yet  bring- 
ing all  their  young  into  the  world  from 
the  egg,  as  mere  mud-tish  still,  in  much 
the  sanjc  state  as  their  unimproved  fore- 
fathers had  done  millions  of  joous  be- 
fore. Similarly,  caterpillars  are  still 
all  but  exact  patterns  of  the  primeval 
insect,  while  butterflies  are  totally 
different  and  far  higher  creatures. 
Thus,  in  spite  of  adult  degeneracy  in 
the  ascidian  and  adult  progress  in  the 
frog,  both  tadpoles  preserve  for  us  very 
nearly  the  original  form  of  their  earliest 
backboned  ancestor.  Each  individual 
recapitulates  in  its  own  person  the  whole 
history  of  evolution  in  its  race.  This 
is  a  very  lucky  thing  for  biology  ;  since 
•without  these  recapitulatory  phases  we 
could  never  have  traced  the  true  lines 
of  descent  in  many  cases.  It  would 
be  a  real  misfortune  for  science  if  every 
frog  had  been  born  a  typical  amphibian, 
as  some  tree-toads  actually  are,  and  if 
every  insect  had  emerged  a  fully 
formed .  adult,  as  some  aphides  very 
nearly  do.  Larva)  and  embryos  show 
us  the  original  types  of  each  race  : 
adults  show  us  the  total  amount  of 
change  produced  by  progressive  or  re- 
trogressive development. 


XI. 

AMONO   THE    HEATHER. 

This  is  the  worst  year  for  butterflies 
that  I  can  remember.  Entomologists 
all  over  England  are  in  despair  at  the 
total  failure  of  the  insect  crop,  and  have 
taken  to  botanizing,  angling,  and  other 


bad  habits,  in  default  of  moans  for  pur- 
suii\g  their  natural  avocation  as  beetle- 
stickers.  Last  year's  heavy  rains  killed 
all  the  mothers  as  they  emerged  from 
the  chrysalis  ;  and  so  only  a  few  stray 
eygs  have  survived  till  this  summer, 
when  the  butterflies  they  produce  will 
all  be  needed  to  keep  up  next  season's 
supply.  Nevertheless,  I  have  limbed 
the  highest  down  in  this  part  of  the 
country  to-day,  and  come  out  for  an 
airing  among  the  heather,  in  the  vaguo 
hope  that  I  may  be  lucky  enough  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  one  or  two  old 
lepidopterous  favorites.  I  am  not  a 
butterfly-hunter  myself,  t  have  not  the 
heart  to  drive  pins  through  the  pretty 
creatures'  downy  bodies,  or  to  stifle 
them  with  reeking  chemicals  ;  though 
I  recognize  the  necessity  for  a  hardened 
class  who  will  perform  that  useful  oflii;o 
on  behalf  of  science  and  society,  just  as 
I  recognize  the  necessity  ft)r  slaughter- 
men and  knackers,  liut  I  prefer  per- 
sonally to  lie  on  the  ground  at  my  ease 
and  learn  as  \niu\h  about  the  insect  na- 
ture as  I  can  discover  from  simple  in- 
spection of  the  living  subject  as  it  flits 
airily  from  bunch  to  bunch  of  bright- 
colored  flowers. 

I  suppose  even  that  apocryphal  per- 
son, the  general  reader,  would  be  in- 
sulted at  being  told  at  this  hour  of  the 
day  that  all  bright-colored  flowers  are 
fertilized  by  the  visits  of  insects,  whose 
attentions  they  are  specially  designed  to 
solicit.  Everybody  has  heard  over  and 
over  again  that  roses,  orchids,  and  col- 
umbines have  acquired  their  honey  to 
allure  the  friendly  bee,  their  gaudy 
petals  to  advertise  the  honey,  and  their 
divers  shapes  to  insure  the  proper  fer- 
tilization by  the  correct  type  of  in- 
sect. But  everybody  does  not  know 
how  specifically  certain  blossoms  have 
laid  themselves  out  for  a  particular 
species  of  fly,  beetle,  or  tiny  moth. 
Here  on  the  higher  downs,  for  instance, 
most  flowers  are  exceptionally  large  and 
brilliant  ;  while  all  Alpine  climbers  must 
have  noticed  that  the  most  gorgeous 
masses  of  bloom  in  Switzerland  occur 
just  below  the  snow-line.  The  reason 
is,  that  such  blossoms  must  be  fertilized 
by  butterflies  alone.     Boos,  their  great 


20  [84] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAHQE. 


rivals  in  honcy-suokinj;,  friujiiont  only 
tlu!  lower  uicHclows  and  wlDport,  whore 
flowerH  arc  many  and  Hinall  :  tlioy  hcI- 
doin  vontnro  far  from  tlio  hive  or  the 
nest  among  the  hij^h  peaks  and  chilly 
nooks  where  we  find  those  ^jreat  patches 
of  liitie  gentian  or  purple  anemone, 
which  hang  like  monstrous  breadths  of 
tapestry  upon  the  mountain  sides.  This 
heather  here,  now  fully  opening  in  the 
warmer  sun  of  the  southern  counties — 
it  is  still  hut  in  tho  bud  among  the 
Scotch  hills,  I  doubt  not — specially  lajs 
itself  out  for  the  humble-bee,  and  its 
masses  fonn  about  his  highest  pasture- 
grouiids  ;  but  the  butterflies — insect 
vagrants  that  they  arc — have  no  fixed 
home,  and  they  therefore  stray  far 
above  the  level  at  which  bee-blossoms 
altogether  cease  to  grow.  Now,  the 
butterfly  differs  greatly  from  the  bee  in 
his  mode  of  honey-hunting  ;  ho  does 
not  bustle  about  in  u  business-like  man- 
ner from  one  buttercup  or  dead-nettlo 
to  its  nearest  fellow  ;  but  he  flits  joy- 
ously, like  a  sauntering  straggler  that 
he  is,  from  a  great  patch  of  color  here 
to  another  great  patch  at  a  distance, 
whose  gleam  happens  to  strike  his  rov- 
ing eyo  by  its  size  and  brilliancy, 
llence,  as  that  indefatigable  observer. 
Dr.  Hermann  Miillcr  lias  noticed,  all 
Alpine  or  hill-top  flowers  have  very 
large  and  conspicuous  blossoms,  gen- 
erally grouped  together  in  big  clusters 
80  as  to  catch  a  passing  glance  of  the 
butterfly's  eye.  As  soon  as  the  insect 
spies  such  a  cluster,  the  color  seems  to 
act  as  a  stimulant  to  his  broad  wings, 
just  as  the  candle-light  does  to  those  of 
his  cousin  tho  moth.  Off  he  sails  at 
once,  as  if  by  automatic  action,  toward 
the  distant  patch,  anr*  there  both  robs 
the  plant  of  its  honey  and  at  the  same 
time  carries  to  it  on  his  legs  and  head 
fertilizing  pollen  from  the  last  of  its 
congeners  which  he  favored  with  a  call. 
For  of  course  both  bees  and  butterflies 
stick  on  the  whole  to  a  single  species  at 
a  time  ;  or  else  the  flowers  would  only 
get  uselessly  hybridized  instead  of  being 
impregnated  with  pollen  from  other 
plants  of  their  own  kind.  For  this 
purpose  it  is  that  most  plants  lay  them- 
selves out  to  secure  the  attention  of  only 


two  or  throe  varieties  among  their  insect 
allies,  while  they  nnike  their  ne(;tari'JS 
either  too  deep  or  too  shallow  for  tho 
convenience  of  all  other  kinds.  Na- 
ture, though  eager  for  cross-fertilization, 
abhors  "  miscegenation"  with  all  tho 
bitterness  of  an  American  politician. 

Insects,  however,  differ  much  from 
one  another  in  their  u'sthetic  tastes,  and 
flowers  are  adapted  accordingly  to  tho 
varying  fancies  of  the  different  kinds. 
Here,  for  example,  is  a  spray  of  com- 
mon white  g'llium,  which  attracts  and 
is  fertilized  by  small  flics,  who  generally 
fre<juent  white  blossoms.  IJut  here, 
again,  not  far  off,  I  find  u  luxuriant 
mass  of  the  yellow  species,  known  by 
the  (plaint  name  of  "  lady's  bedstraw" 
— a  legacy  from  the  old  legend  which 
represents  it  as  having  formed  Our 
Lady's  bed  in  the  manger  at  Jiethlehem. 
Now  why  has  this  kind  of  galium  yel- 
low flowers,  while  its  near  kiitsman 
yonder  has  them  snowy  while  ?  The 
reason  is  that  lady's  bedstraw  is  fertil- 
ized by  small  beetles  ;  and  beetles  aro 
known  to  be  ono  among  the  most  color- 
loving  races  of  insects.  You  may  often 
find  one  of  their  number,  the  lovely 
bronze  and  golden-nuiiled  rose-chafer, 
buried  deeply  in  the  very  centre  of  a 
red  garden  rose,  and  reeling  about  when 
touched  as  if  drunk  with  pollen  and 
honey.  Almost  all  the  flowers  wliich 
beetles  frequent  aro  consequently 
brightly  decked  in  scarlet  or  yellow. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  whole  family 
of  the  umbcllates,  those  tall  plants  with 
levci  bunches  of  tiny  blossoms,  like  the 
•^ool's  parsley,  have  all  but  universally 
white  petals  ;  and  Miiller,  tho  most 
statistical  of  naturalists,  took  the  trouble 
to  count  the  number  of  insects  which 
paid  them  a  visit.  He  found  that  only 
14  per  cent  were  bees,  while  the  re- 
mainder consisted  mainly  of  miscellane- 
ous small  flies  and  other  arthropodous 
riff-raff  ;  whereas  in  the  brilliant  class 
of  composites,  including  the  asters,  sun- 
flowers, daisies,  dandelions, and  thistles, 
nearly  75  per  cent  of  the  visitors  were 
steady,  industrious  bees.  Certain  dingy 
blossoms  which  lay  themselves  out  to 
attract  wasps  are  obviously  adapted,  as 
MuUcr  quaintly  remarks,   "to   a  less 


a^sthoti 
ors." 


and  till 
spect  t 
larger 
upecies 
hummii 
Is  it 
hcnsib 
which 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUUE. 


[95]  87 


jpsthctir.illy  c'lUivjitod  cirolo  of  visic- 
ui'M."  but  tlic  iiioHt  brilliant  HinoiiLrall 
insoct-fcrtilizcd  tluwcrs  aro  thoso  which 
Bpeciiill y  affoct  the  Hocicty  of  LiitterrticH  ; 
ami  they  aru  only  surpassed  in  this  re- 
spect throughout  all  tiuturo  hy  the  still 
larger  and  luoro  niiiguillceiit  tropical 
Hpcciea  which  owe  their  fertilization  to 
huniining-ltirdsand  brush-tougued  lories. 
Is  it  iu)t  a  curious,  yet  a  compre- 
hensible circumstance,  that  the  tastes 
which  thus  show  themselves  in  the  de- 
velopment, by  natural  selection,  of 
lovefv  flowers,  should  also  show  them- 
selves  in  the  marked  preference  for 
beautiful  mates  ?  Poised  on  yonder 
sprig  of  harebell  stands  a  little  purplo- 
winjxed  butterHv,  one  of  the  most  ex- 
quisite  among  our  British  kinds.  That 
little  butterfly  owes  its  own  rich  and 
delicately  shaded  tints  to  the  long  se- 
lective action  of  a  million  generations 
among  its  ancestors.  So  wo  find 
throughout  that  the  most  beriutifully 
colored  birds  and  insects  are  always 
those  which  have  had  most  to  do  with 
the  pr«jduction  of  bright-colored  fruits 
and  flowers.  The  butterflies  and  rose- 
beetles  aro  the  most  gorgeous  among 
insects  ;  the  humming-birds  and  parrots 
aro  the  most  gorgeous  among  birds. 
Nay,  more:  exactly  like  effects  have  been 
produced  in  two  hemispheres  on  difler- 
ent  tribes  by  the  same  causes.  The 
plain  brown  swifts  of  the  North  have 
developed  among  tropical  West  Indian 
and  South  American  orchids  the  metal- 
lic gorgets  and  crimson  crests  of  the 
humming-bird  ;  whilo  a  totally  unlike 
group  of  Asiatic  birds  have  developed 
among  the  rich  flora  of  India  and  the 
Malay  Archipelago  the  exactly  similar 

Jlumage  of  tho  exquisite  sun-birds, 
ust  as  bees  depend  upon  flo'vers,  and 
flowers  upon  bees,  so  the  color-sense  of 
animals  has  created  the  bright  petals  of 
blossoms  ;  and  the  bright  petals  have 
reacted  upon  the  tastes  of  the  animals 
themselves,  and  through  their  tastes 
upon  their  own  appearance. 


XII. 

SPECKLED  TROUT. 

It  is  a  piece  of  tho  common  vanity  of 
anglers    to    suppose    that  they  know 


something  about  spccklod  trout.  A 
fox  might  almost  as  well  pretend  that 
he  was  intimately  actpiainted  with  tho 
domestic  habits  of  i><>'iltiy,  or  an  Iro- 
(juois   describe    t'  oms    of    tho 

Algoitipiins    from  nations    irutdo 

upon  the  specimens  who  had  conu;  im- 
der  his  scalping-knifc.  I  will  allt)w 
that  anglers  are  well  versed  ii.  the  neces- 
sity for  fishing  up-stream  rather  than 
in  the  opposite  direction  ;  and  I  grant 
that  they  have  attained  an  enqtirical 
knowledge  of  the  uisthetic  preferences 
of  trout  in  the  nuittcr  of  blue  duns  and 
red  palmers  ;  but  that  as  a  body  they 
are  familiar  with  the  speckled  trout  at 
home  I  deny.  If  you  wish  to  learn 
all  about  the  race  in  its  own  life  you 
must  abjure  rod  and  line,  and  creep 
(juietly  to  the  side  of  tho  pools  in  an 
unfished  brooklet,  like  this  on  whoso 
bank  I  am  now  seated  ;  and  then,  if 
you  have  taken  care  not  to  let  your 
shadow  fall  upon  the  water,  you  may 
sit  and  watch  tho  live  fish  themselves 
for  an  hour  together,  as  they  bask 
lazily  in  the  sun'ight,  or  rise  now  and 
then  at  cloudy  moments  with  a  sudden 
dart  at  a  May-fly  who  is  trying  in  vain 
to  lay  her  eggs  unmolested  on  tho  sur- 
face of  t}io  stream.  Tho  trout  in  my 
little  beck  are  fortunately  too  small  even 
for  poachers  to  care  for  tickling  them  ; 
so  I  am  able  entirely  to  preserve  them 
as  objects  for  philosophical  contempla- 
tion, without  any  danger  of  their  being 
scared  away  from  their  accustomed 
haunts  by  intrusive  anglers. 

Trout  always  have  a  recognized  home 
of  their  own,  inhabited  by  a  pretty  fixed 
number  of  individuals.  But  if  you 
catch  tho  two  solo  denizens  of  a  par- 
ticular scour,  you  will  find  another  pair 
installed  in  their  place  to-morrow. 
Young  fry  seem  always  ready  to  fill  up 
the  vacancies  caused  by  th'j  involuntary 
retirement  of  their  elders.  Their  size 
depends  almost  entirely  upon  the  quan- 
tity of  food  they  can  get ;  for  an  adult 
fish  may  weigh  anything  at  any  time  of 
his  life,  and  there  is  no  limit  to  the 
dimensions  they  may  theoretically  at- 
tain. Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  who  is  an 
angler  as  well  as  a  philosopher,  well 
obc  .rves  that  where  tho  trout  are  many 


29  [80] 


THE   E^^OLUTIONIST  AT  LAllOE. 


tlicy  aro  ffenornny  bitirII  ;  nnd  where 
tlioy  arc  lar;^*'  tln'y  aro  fjonerally  few. 
In  tlio  inill-streain  down  tlic  valley  they 
inoaauro  only  hIx  inches,  though  you 
may  fill  a  banket  easily  cnoi'jjh  on  a 
cloudy  day  ;  hut  in  the  canal  rcsorvf  ir, 
where  there  aro  only  half  a  dozen  fish 
altofjetlier,  a  luaj^niHcenteij^lit-pounder 
lias  Iteen  taken  more  than  once.  In 
this  way  we  can  understand  the  orinjin 
of  the  f^reat  hike  trout,  which  weij^h 
Konu'tiines  forty  ])ounds.  They  are 
common  trout  which  have  taken  to  liv- 
in<;  in  broader  waters,  where  larfjo,  food 
is  far  more  abun(hint,  but  where  slioals 
of  small  tish  would  starve.  The  pecu- 
liarities thus  impressed  upon  them  have 
been  handed  down  to  their  descendants, 
till  at  length  tlicy  have  bcconio  suHl- 
cicntly  marked  to  justify  us  in  regard- 
ing them  as  a  separate  species.  But  it 
is  difKcult  to  say  what  makes  a  species 
in  animals  so  very  variable  as  fish. 
There  arc,  in  fact,  no  less  than  twelve 
kinds  of  trout  wholly  peculiar  to  the 
British  Islanda,  and  some  of  these  are 
found  in  very  restricted  areas.  Tlius, 
the  Loch  Stennis  trout  inhabits  only  the 
tarns  of  Orkney  ;  the  (iaiway  sea  trout 
lives  nowhere  but  along  the  west  coast 
of  I"eland  ;  the  gillaroo  never  strays  out 
of  the  Irish  loughs  ;  the  Killin  charr  is 
confined  to  a  single  sheet  of  water  in 
Mayo  ;  and  other  species  belong  exclu- 
sively to  the  Llanbcris  lakes,  to  Lough 
Melvin,  or  to  a  few  mountain  pools  of 
Wales  and  Scotland.  So  great  is  the 
variety  that  may  be  produced  by  small 
changes  of  food  and  luibitat.  Even  the 
salmon  himself  is  only  a  river  trc"*  who 
has  acquired  the  liabit  of  going  down 
to  the  sea,  where  he  gets  immensely  in- 
creased quantities  of  food  (for  all  the 
trout  kind  are  almost  omnivorous),  and 
grows  big  in  proportion.  But  ho  still 
retains  many  marks  of  his  early  exist- 
ence as  a  river  fish.  In  the  first  place, 
every  ealroon  is  hatched  from  the  egg 
in  fresh  water,  and  grows  up  a  mere 
trout.  The  young  parr,  as  the  salmon 
is  called  in  this  stage  of  its  growth,  is 
actually  (as  far  as  physiology  goes)  a 
mature  fish,  and  is  capable  of  producing 
milt,  or  male  spawn,  which  long  caused 
it  to  be   looked  upon   as  a   separate 


snecies.  It  really  rcpresonts,  however, 
the  early  form  of'^the  salmon,  before  ho 
took  to  his  annual  excursion  t.>  the  sea. 
The  ancestral  fish,  only  a  hundredth 
fraction  in  weight  of  his  huge  descend- 
ant, must  have  someliow  nc([iurnd  tho 
habit  of  going  seaward — possibly  from 
a  drying  uf)  of  his  native  stream  in  sea- 
sons of  drought.  In  tho  sea,  he  found 
himself  suddenly  supplied  with  an  un- 
wonted store  of  food,  and  grew,  likj 
all  his  kind  under  similar  circumstances, 
to  an  extraordinary  size.  Thus  he  at- 
tains, as  it  were,  to  a  second  and  final 
maturity.  But  salmon  cannot  lay  their 
eggs  in  tho  sea  ;  or  at  least,  if  they 
did,  tho  young  parr  would  starve  for 
want  of  their  proper  food,  or  olse  bo 
choked  by  tho  salt  water,  to  which  tho 
old  fish  have  acclimatized  themselves. 
Accordingly,  with  tho  return  of  tho 
spawning  season  thoro  comes  back  an 
instinctive  desire  to  seek  once  more  tho 
native  fresh  water.  So  tho  salmon  re- 
turn up  stream  to  spawn,  and  the  young 
aro  hatched  in  the  kind  of  surroundingti 
wliich  best  suit  their  tender  gills.  This 
instinctive  longing  for  the  old  homo  may 
probab'y  have  arisen  during  an  inter- 
mediate stage,  when  the  developing 
species  still  haunted  only  tho  brackish 
water  near  tho  river  mouths  ;  and  as 
those  fish  alone  which  returned  to  tho 
head  waters  could  preserve  their  race, 
it  would  soon  grow  hardened  into  a 
habit  ingrained  in  the  nervous  system, 
like  the  migration  of  birds  or  tho  clus- 
tering of  swarming  bees  around  their 
queen.  In  like  manner  tho  Jamaican 
land-crabs,  which  themselves  live  on  tho 
mountain-tops,  come  -.lown  every  year 
to  lay  their  eggs  in  tho  Caribbean  ;  be- 
cause, like  all  other  crabs,  they  pass 
their  first  larval  stage  as  swimming  tad- 
poles, and  afterward  take  instinctively 
to  the  mountains,  as  tho  salmon  takes 
to  tho  sea.  Such  a  habit  could  only 
have  arisen  by  one  generation  after  an- 
other venturing  farther  and  farther  in- 
land, while  always  returning  at  the 
proper  season  to  the  native  element  for 
the  deposition  of  the  eggs. 

These  trout  liere,  however,  differ 
from  the  salmon  in  one  important  par- 
ticular besides  their  relative  size,  and 


THE   EVOLUTIONIST  AT   LAIME. 


[87]  20 


liowovcr, 
Itoforo  ho 
t.>  the  8oa. 
hundredth 
0  <loHccnd- 
iiirod  tho 
ubiy  from 
am  in  son- 
he  found 
th  «n  un- 
,'re\v,  liko 
iiiistnnccH, 
MiH  he  at- 
and  final 
t  hiy  their 
i,    if  they 
^ta^vo  for 
•r  olse  ho 
which  tlio 
oinHclves. 
•n   of  tlio 
haclc  an 
more  tho 
ihnon  re- 
lio  young 
■oundings 
Is.     This 
lomo  may 
an  inter- 
oveloping 
braclvish 
;    and  as 
id  to  tlio 
leir  race, 
d  into  a 
s  nystom, 
tlio  chis- 
nd  tlu'ir 
lamaican 
r'e  on  tho 
^ery  year 
jan  ;  be- 
ley   pass 
ling  tad- 
inctively 
)n  takes 
lid  only 
after  an- 
rther  in- 
:  at   the 
iient  for 

,  differ 
int  par- 
ze,  and 


that  is  tlwit  tlioy  nro  beautifully  speckled 
in  their  mature   form,  inntead  of  beinir 
merely  silvery   like  tho  larj^er  snecioH. 
Tlie   origin   of    the  pretty    HpecKles  in 
probably  to  be   found  in   the  corirttant 
selection  by  the  Hsh  uf  tho  most  l)eau- 
tiful   among  tlxiir   number  us   niMtcs. 
Just  an  singing-l)irds  are  in  their  fullest 
and  clearest  song  at  the  nestii.^  period, 
and  just  as  many  brilliant  species  only 
poHsess  their  gorgeous  plumiige    while 
they  are  going  through  their  courtship, 
and  lose  the  decoration  after  tho  young 
biujd  is  hatched,  so  the  trout  are  most 
brightly  colored  at  spawning  time,  and 
become  lank  and  dingy  iifter  the  eggs 
have  been  safely  deposited.     The   par- 
ent fish  ascend  to  tho  head-waters  of 
their  native  river    during  the  autumn 
season  to  spawn,  and  then,  their  glory 
dimuKul,  they  return    down-stream  to 
tho  deep  pools,    where  tliey    pass    tho 
winter  sulkily,  as  if  ashamed  to  show 
themselves   in   their   dull    and    dusky 
suits.     r>ut  when  spring  comes  rouml 
onco   more,     and    flies   again    become 
abundant,  tho  trout  begin  to  move  up- 
stream afresh,  and  soon   fatten  out  to 
their  customary  size  and  brilliant  colors. 
It  might  seem  at  first  sight  that  creat- 
ures so  humblo  .is  these  little  fish  could 
hardly  have  sufficiently   developed  les- 
thctic  tastes  to  prefer  one  mate  above 
another  on  the  score  of  beauty.     But 
wo  must  remember  th;it  every  species  is 
very  sensitive  to  small  points  of   detail 
in  its  own  kind,  and  that  the   choice 
would  only  be   exerted   between   mates 
generally  very  like  ono  another,  so  that 
extremely     minute     differences     must 
necessarily  turn    the  scale  in  favor  of 
ono   particular   suitor   rather  than   his 
rivals.     Anglers   know  that  trout   arc 
attracted  by    bright   colors,   that  they 
can  distinguish  tho  different  Hies  upon 
which  they  feed,  and  that  artificial  files 
must  accordingly  be  made  at  least  into 
a  rough  semblance  of  the  original  in- 
sects.    Some  scientific  fishermen  even 
insist  that  it  is  no  use  offering  them  a 
brown  drake  at  tho  time  of  year  or  the 
hour  of  day  when  they  are  naturally  ex- 
pecting a  red  spinner.     Of  course  their 
sight  is  by  no  means  so  perfect  as  our 
own,  but  it  probably  includes  a  fair  idea 


of  form,  and  on  ncuto  perception  of 
ci.'or,  while  there  is  every  rea'^on  to  bo. 
lieve  that  all  tiie  trout  family  have  a  de- 
cided love  of  metallic  glitter,  such  as 
that  of  silver  or  of  tho  salmon's  scales. 
Mr.  I)arwin  has  shown  that  tiie  littlo 
sticklebactk  goes  through  an  elaltoratc 
(H)urtship.  and  I  have  myself  watched 
trout  which  seemed  to  me  as  obviously 
love-making  as  any  pair  of  turtle-doves 
I  ever  saw.  In  their  early  life  sahnon 
fry  and  young  trout  aro  almost  (|uito 
indistinguishable,  being  both  marked 
with  blue  patches  (known  as  "  fin;*er- 
marks")  on  their  sides,  which  arc  rem. 
lumts  of  the  ancestral  coloring  once  com- 
mon to  the  whole  race.  JJut  as  they 
grow  up,  their  later-accpiired  tastes 
begin  to  produce  a  divergence,  duo 
originally  to  this  selective  preference  of 
certain  beautifiU  mates  ;  and  the  adult 
salmon  clothes  himself  from  head  to  tail 
In  sheeny  silver,  while  tho  full-grown 
trout  decks  his  sides  with  the  beautifid 
speckles  which  liavo  earned  him  his 
popular  name.  Countless  generations 
of  slight  differences,  selected  from  time 
to  time  by  the  strongest  and  handsomest 
fish,  have  suttlced  at  length  to  '  "iijg 
about  these  conspicuous  variations  from 
the  primitive  typo,  which  the  young  of 
both  raccj  still  preserve. 


XIII. 

DODDER    AND    DKOOMRAPE. 

This  afiornoon,  strolling  through  tho 
undcrolit!,  I  have  come  across  two 
(juiiint  and  rather  unconmion  fiowers 
among  the  straggling  brushwood.  Ono 
of  them  is  growing  like  a  creeper  around 
the  branches  of  this  overblown  gorse- 
bush.  It  is  the  lesser  dodder,  a  pretty 
clustering  mass  of  tiny  pale  pink  con- 
volvulus blossoms.  The  stem  consists 
of  a  long  red  thread,  twining  round  and 
round  the  gorse,  and  bursting  out  hero 
and  there  into  thick  bundles  of  beauti- 
ful bell-shaped  flowers,  liut  where  aro 
the  leaves  ?  You  may  trace  the  red 
threads  through  their  labyrinthine  wind- 
ings  up  and  down  the  supporting  gorse- 
branches  all  in  vain  :  there  is  not  a  leaf 
to  be  seen.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
dodder  has  none.      It  is   ono   of  the 


30  [88] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUOE. 


most  tlioronpfhjjo'nj?  parnniu-H  in  nil 
iiatiiru.  (»r<liiiJiry  ^rct'ii-loiivt'd  pliuitM 
livi!  Iiy  Miiikiii^  NtiirclivH  for  tlictnMulvcH 
out  of  '  (;arl)oni(:  ticid  in  tliu  air,  uti- 
(i<>r  t!it>  iiirlm*n<;o  of  Ntinlij^lit  ;  but  tlic> 
dodder  Hiiiijily  faHtenn  itm>lf  on  to  an-' 
otIiiT  plant,  HttiidN  down  rootletH  or 
Huckt-rH  intoitH  vttiriH,  and  drinks  up  Hap 
Htorisd  with  ri-aily-nuido  HtardicHor  otiior 
f(»od-HtutrH,  orijcinally  dt'stint-d  l»y  its 
host  for  tlio  Huppiy  «>f  itH  own  ^rowinj; 
K'avt'H,  brancln's,  and  IdosHonis.  It 
livoM  upon  tliu  f^orso  iiistaH  narasitiivdly 
as  the  little  j^reen  aphideHlive  upon  o\ir 
roHe-l)UMlieH.  The  material  which  it 
UHCrt  up  in  pushinji;  forth  its  lon^  thread- 
like HteiM  and  elustenid  hells  is  so  much 
dc'.d  loss  to  the  unfortutuito  plant  on 
which  it  has  fixed  itself. 

()Kl-fashione(l  Ixtoks  tell  us  that  the 
mistletoe  is  a  pcrf'^ct  parasite,  while  the 
doddtir  is  an  iuiporfcct  one  ;  and  I  i)o- 
lieve  almost  all  botanists  will  still  rejieat 
the  foolish  sayinf^  to  the  present  day. 
liut  it  rciilly  hIiows  considerable  hazi- 
ness as  to  what  a  true  i)ariisite  is.  The 
mistletoe  is  a  plant  which  has  taken,  it 
is  true,  to  jrrowint;  u[>on  other  trees. 
Its  very  viscid  berries  are  useful  for  at- 
tai;hing  the  seeds  to  the  trunk  of  the 
oak  or  the  a[»ple  ;  and  there  it  roots  it- 
self into  the  body  of  its  host.  Jiiit  it 
soon  [)roduceH  real  ^reen  leaves  of  its 
own,  which  contain  the  ordiiuiry  chlo- 
rophyl  found  in  other  leaves,  and  help 
it  to  nuinufacturo  starch,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  sunlight,  on  its  own  account. 
It  is  not,  therefore,  a  complete  draij 
upon  the  tree  which  it  infests  ;  for 
thout^li  it  takes  sap  and  mineral  food 
from  the  host,  it  supplies  itself  with 
carbon,  which  is  after  all  the  important 
thintj  for  plant-life,  l^oddcr,  however, 
is  a  parasite  pure  and  simple.  Its  seeds 
fall  originally  upon  the  ground,  and 
there  root  themselves  at  first  like  those 
of  any  other  plant.  But,  as  it  grows, 
its  long  twining  stem  begins  to  curl  for 
support  round  some  other  and  stouter 
stalk.     If  it  stopped  there,   and  then 

{)roduced  leaves  of  its  own,  like  the 
loneysuckle  and  the  clematis,  there 
would  be  no  great  harm  done  ;  and  the 
dodder  would  bo  but  another  climbing 
plant  tlic  more  in  our  flora.     However, 


it  soon  irsidioufly  rrpny«  the  unnport 
given  it  by  sending  down  little  bud-liko 
sut^kers,  through  which  it  draws  up 
nourishment  from  the  gorse  or  clover 
on  which  it  lives.  Thus  it  has  ,0  need 
to  devel«>p  leaves  of  its  own  ;  an«!  it  ac- 
cordingly employs  all  its  ntolen  material 
in  sending  forth  matted  threa<l-liko 
stems  and  bunch  after  bunch  of  bright 
tlowers.  As  these  increase  and  multi- 
ply, tlu-y  at  last  Huccet'(l  in  drawing 
awiiy  nil  the  nutriment  from  the  sup- 
porting plant,  which  tinally  dies  under 
the  constant  drain,  just  as  h  horse  might 
•  lie  un<ler  the  attacks  of  a  host  of 
leeches.  Jiiit  this  matters  little  to  tho 
<lodder,  which  has  had  time  to  bo  visit- 
ed and  fertilized  by  insects,  and  to  set 
and  ripen  its  numerous  seeds.  One 
species,  the  greater  dodiler,  is  thus 
parasitic  upon  hops  and  nettles  ;  a 
second  kind  twines  round  flax  ;  and  tho 
third,  which  I  have  hero  under  my 
eyes,  mainly  confines  its  dangerous  at- 
tentions to  gorse,  clover,  and  thyme. 
All  of  them  are,  of  course,  deadly  ene- 
mies to  tho  plants  they  infest. 

How  tho  dodder  acqui-^d  this  curioua 
mode  of  life  it  is  not  difficult  to  sec. 
Iiy  descent  it  is  a  bind-wced,  or  wild 
convolvulus,  and  its  blossoms  are  in  tho 
main  miniature  convolvulus  blossoms 
still.  Now,  all  bind-weeds,  as  every- 
body knows,  aro  climbing  plants,  which 
twine  themselves  round  stouter  stems 
for  mere  physical  support.  Tliis  is  in 
itself  a  lialf-pnrasitic  habit,  because  it 
enables  the  plant  to  dispense  with  tho 
trouble  of  making  a  thick  and  solid 
stem  for  its  own  use.  But  just  suppose 
that  any  bind-weod,  instead  of  merely 
twining,  were  to  pnt  forth  hero  and 
there  little  tendrils,  something  like 
those  of  the  ivy,  which  managed  some- 
how to  grow  into  tho  bark  of  the  host, 
and  so  naturally  graft  themselves  to  its 
tissues.  In  that  case  the  plant  would 
derive  nutriment  from  the  stouter  stem 
with  no  expense  to  itself,  and  it  might 
naturally  bo  expected  to  grow  strong  and 
healthy,  and  hand  down  its  peculiarities 
to  its  descendants.  As  tho  leaves  would 
thus  bo  rendered  needless,  they  would 
first  become  very  much  reduced  in  size, 
and  would  finally  disappear  altogether, 


ftcco 
uniK 
at 
M..w^ 
rara 
vege 
men 
the 
This 
do<b 
T 
bron 
wha 
steiu 
brov 


TIIK   EVOLUTIOXIHT   AT  IwMlOK. 


m  in 


«  «tinport 
••iKl-liko 
(IruwM  lip 
or  cloviT 

aru!  itao- 
II  inatiTial 

ircad-liko 

of  Itrifjlit 

11(1  iniiiti' 

(Irawinjj 

the  Hiip. 
i»'H  under 
THo  niififht 

llOHt    of 

tl(!  to  tlio 
)  l>o  vinit- 

lul    to    HCt 

Is.  Ono 
is  thus 
lettles  ;  a 
niid  tho 
ndcr  my 
jfiTous  at- 
I  thyino. 
adiy  t'lio- 

in  curioiifl 
It  to  Bce. 
,  or  wild 
irc  in  tho 
bloBfloniH 
»8  evory- 
ts,  which 
er  stems 
'his  is  in 
ccausc  it 
with  tho 
nd   solid 
supposo 
f  merely 
ero  and 
ng    liko 
id  some- 
ho  host, 
08  to  its 
t  would 
tor  stem 
t  might 
ong  and 
iliaritics 
8  would 
'  would 
in  size, 
•gcther, 


ncrortling  to  tho  unlvorniil  cu»tom  of 
utinoccHSHrv  orifHUH.  So  wt«  nlwtiild  get 
at  lengtli  a  h'atlcNM  tilant,  with  iiuiiktoiim 
tloworrt  iind  Noedx,  jiiHt  likn  tho  dodilitr. 
I'arHHitc!^,  in  *i  t,  wiictlicr  aiiitnikl  or 
vcm'talilo,  nlwiiyn  end  liy  bt'comiii)^ 
mero  rt'prodiiffivo  men,  uit>chaiiiHiiiH  for 
tho  wiinpli!  claltoratioii  of  t'gg'*  or  Miu'dn. 
Tiiin  is  just  what  has  ha[)punod  to  the 
doildcr  hcforu  iiii<. 

Tho  other  (jueer  plant  hero  is  a 
l>rooiiiratK>.  It  ronsiMtH  of  u  tall,  soine- 
what  faded-looking  Hti'iii,  upright  iii- 
Htead  of  eliiiihing,  and  rovorod  with 
brown  or  purplish  si-alcs  in  tho  plat'o  of 
loaves.  It.'*  ifowers  resciiiMo  tho  srali's 
in  eolor,  and  the  (l(>H<Unett!o  in  shape. 
It  i.s,  in  fact,  a  parasitit;  dead-nettle,  a 
trirto  less  degenerate  as-  yet  than  the 
dodder.  This  hroomrapo  has  iKvpiired 
somewhat  tho  saiiio  haltits  as  the  other 
phmt,  only  that  it  fixes  itself  on  the 
roots  of  clover  or  broom,  from  which 
it  sucks  nutriment  by  its  own  root,  as 
tho  dodder  does  by  its  sttfin-suokers.  ()f 
course  it  still  retains  in  most  particu- 
lars its  original  characteristif.'H  as  a  dead- 
nettle  ;  it  grows  with  their  uj)right 
stem  an<l  their  curiously  shaped  flowers, 
80  specially  adapted  for  fertilization  by 
insect  visitors.  But  it  has  naturally  lost 
its  loaves,  for  which  it  has  no  further 
use,  and  it  possesses  no  chlorophyl,  as 
tho  mistletoe  does.  Yet  it  lias  not 
probably  been  i)arasitio  for  as  long  a 
time  as  tho  dodder,  since  it  still  retains 
a  dwindling  trace  of  its  leaves  in  the 
shape  of  dry  purply  scales,  something 
liko  those  of  young  as[)aragus  shoots. 
These  leaves  are  now,  in  all  likelihood, 
actually  undergoing  a  gradual  atrophy, 
and  wo  may  fairly  expect  that  in  the 
course  of  a  few  thousand  year  they 
will  disa[>pcar  altogether.  At  present, 
however,  they  remain  very  conspicuous 
by  their  color,  which  is  not  green,  ow- 
ing to  the  absence  of  chlorophyl,  but 
is  duo  to  tho  same  pigment  as  thiit  of 
tho  blossoms.  This  generally  huppens 
with  parasites,  or  with  that  other  curi- 
ous sort  of  plants  known  as  saprophytes, 
which  live  upon  decaying  living  matter 
in  the  mould  of  forests.  Aa  they  need 
no  green  leaves,  but  have  often  inherit- 
ed leafy  structures  of  some  sort,  in  a 


morn  or  less degeticrato  ponditiiin,  from 
tlii'ir  Hclf-supportiiig  ance<«ti)rs,  they 
usually  display  most  beautiful  coinrs  in 
tlieir  steiiiH  and  scales,  and  several  of 
them  rank  aiiiniig  our  handsomest  liot- 
lioiisii  plants.  Kvcn  the  dodilcr  has  rod 
stalks.  Their  only  work  in  life  being 
to  elaborate  the  materials  stolen  from 
their  host  into  the  brilliant  pigments 
used  in  the  petals  for  attraetiiig  insect 
fertilizers,  they  pour  this  t^n\\H>  dye  into 
the  stems  and  scales,  which  thus  render 
them  still  more  conspicuous  to  the  in- 
sects' eyes.  Moreover,  as  they  use 
their  whole  material  in  producing  flow- 
ers, many  of  tliesi.  an*  very  large  and 
handsome  ;  one  huge  Sumatran  species 
has  a  blossom  which  measures  three 
feet  across.  On  the  other  hand,  their 
seeds  are  usually  small  and  very  numer- 
ous. Thousands  of  seetls  must  fall  on 
unsuitable  places,  spring  up,  and  waste 
all  their  tiny  store  of  nourishment,  find 
no  host  at  hand  on  which  to  fasten 
themselves,  and  so  die  down  for  want 
of  food.  It  is  only  by  producing  a  few 
thousand  young  plants  for  every  ono 
destined  ultimately  to  survive  that  dod- 
ders and  broomrapes  nmnago  to  pro- 
servo  their  types  at  all. 

XIV. 

noo's  MKnci'RV  and  plantain'. 
TiiE  hedge  and  bank  in  llaye  Lano 
are  now  a  perfect  tangled  nuiss  of  (;reep- 
ing  plants,  among  which  I  have  just 
picked  out  a  <|ueer  little  three-cornered 
flower,  hardly  known  oven  to  village 
children,  but  christened  by  our  old 
herbalists  "  dog's  mercury."  i'L  is  an 
ancient  trick  of  language  to  call  coarser 
or  larger  plants  by  the  dpecific  title  of 
some  smaller  or  cultivated  kind,  with 
tho  addition  of  an  animal's  name. 
Thus  we  have  radish  and  horse-radish, 
chestnut  and  horse-chestnut,  rose  and 
dog-rose,  parsnip  and  cow-parsnip, 
thistle  and  sow-thistle.  On  tho  samo 
principle;  a  somewhat  similar  plant  be- 
ing known  as  mercury,  this  perennial 
weed  becomes  dog's  mercury.  Both, 
of  course,  go  back  to  some  imaginary 
medicinal  virtue  in  the  herb  which  made 
it  resemble  the  metal  in  tho  eyes  of  old- 
fashioned  practitioners. 


an  [mi 


TlIK  KVOLUriONISr  AT  LAUUli. 


I)oi;'h  Tnorcnrv  N  ono  of  tlio  oiMont 
Kii;;lii«li  lIowcM  I  ktiiiw.      Kiirli  IiIdhhoiii 
liiiit  thrt'tt  Niniill  ^(n'v\\  |)«>tiiN,  utiil  I'ithtT 
m-vtml  HlaiiiciiH,  or  cIho  n  piHiil,  in  tlio 
criitri'.     Tlii'iti  i-t  riolliiiii^  purticulurly 
ri'iiiark)il)lo  in  thu   Homci'   liciii^  ^ivcit, 
for  tliiiiiHiiiiiU  of  oflicr  llowiTs  an-  jfrfun 
iiini  \vi'  lU'ViT  tiotifo  llii'iu  an  in  /my  way 
iiiiiiHinil.      In  fact,   wu  never  an  u  riilo 
iiotiit!  jLTfccn  MoHHoMiK  at  all.      Vot  any- 
l)0)ly     wlio     pirki'd    a     piecn    of    doif's 
nicrriiry  eotiiil  not  fail  to  lie  Mtiiiciv  hy 
itH  (MU'ioiiH  a|i|)t>aranri>.      It  iIoca  not  in 
tlitt    least    reseniliji!    llie    iiieons|)ieuoUH 
ffreen  llowern  uf  tlio  Htihijin'^-nettle,  or 
of  most  forest  trees  :  it  has  a  very  (lis- 1 
tinet  set  of  petals  wliifli  at  once  im|)res8 
one  with  the  idea  that  they  oiii^ht  to  Itu 
colored.      And  ho  indeed  they  onjrht  :  j 
for  dou;'s  mercury  is  a  deitenerate  plant 
which  oiK'i^  possessed  li  hi'iiliant  corolla 
and  was  fertilized  liy  insects,  Imt  which  i 
has  now  fallen  from  its  hiijh  estate  and 
reverted  to  the  less  advanced  mode  of 
fertilization    hy   thu    interme(liation   of 
the  wind.     Kor  si»me  unknown  reason  | 
or  t)ther  this  species  a-id  all  its  relations 
have  discovered  that  they  ^et  on  better 
l>y  the  latter  anil  usually  more  wasteful 
plan   than   hy   the  firmer  and   usually 
moro    cconoMucal    one,      II(!nco    they 
have  jjiven    u|>  prudui^inu;  lartje  lirii^ht 
petals,  hecause  they  no  longer  need  to 
attract  the  eyes  of   insecrts  ;  and   they 
have  also  tjivc!i  up  the  manufactuie  of 
]ion«!y,  which  under  their  new  cireum- 
Btan-jcs  woidd  he  a  mere  waste  of  suh- 
Btance  to  them.     I5ut  the  do^'s  mercury 
Htill  retains  a  distinct  mark  of  its  earlier 
insect-attractinii;  habits    in  these   three 
diminutive  petals.     Others  of  its  rela- 
tions have  lost  even  these,  so  that  the 
oiii>;inal  lloral  form  is  almost  completely 
obscured    in  their  case.     The  spurjjfes 
are  familiar  Knijlish  roadside  examples, 
and  their  flowers  ur*}.  so  completely  de- 
graded that  even   botanists  for  a  lon<? 
time  mistook  their  nature  atid  analogies. 
The  male  and  fennile  Howera  of  dog's 
mercury  have  taken  to  living  upon  sep- 
arate   plants.     Why  is    this  ?     AVcll, 
there  was  no  doubt  a  time  wlien  every 
blossom  had  both  stamens  and  pistil,  as 
dog-roses  and  buttercups  always  have. 
But  when  the  plant  took  to  wind  fcrtil- 


'  izntion  it  underwent  n  chnngo  of  ntnio- 
ture.  The  NtametiM  on  Momu  bloHMonis 
becanxt  aborted,  while  the  pixtil  became 
aborted  on  others.  This  was  necesHary 
in  order  to  pn^vent  Hclf-fertilizatioti  ; 
,  for  otherwise  the  pollen  of  each  bhm. 
Hom,  hanging  out  an  it  does  to  the 
wind,  woidd  have  been  very  liable  ti> 
fjill  upon  its  own  pistil.  Hut  the  pres. 
ent  arrangement  obviates  any  sueh  con- 
tingemn',  by  making  out*  plant  bear  all 
the  male  lliwerH  an<l  another  plant  all 
the  ftinude  ones.  Why,  again,  are  the 
petals  green  ?  I  think  because  dog's 
mercury  would  be  positively  injureil  by 
the  visits  «tf  insects.  It  has  no  honey 
to  otTer  them,  and  if  th<>y  came  to  it  at 
all,  they  would  «uily  eat  U[)  the  p«»llen 
itself.  JItuico  I  suspect  that  those 
tlowern  among  the  'ncrcurles  which 
showed  any  tendency  to  ntain  the 
original  colored  petals  would  soon  get 
wee»h(l  out,  because  insects  wDidd  eat 
up  all  their  pollen,  thus  preventing 
them  from  fertilizing  others  ;  while 
those  which  had  green  pitals  woidd 
never  be  noticed  and  so  wiiuld  be  per- 
mitted to  fertilize  one  another  after 
their  new  fashion.  In  fact,  when  a 
blossom  which  has  once  depended  upon 
insects  for  its  fertilization  is  driven  by 
circumstances  to  depend  upon  the  wind, 
it  seems  to  derive  a  positive  a<lvantago 
from  losing  all  those  attrat^tive  features 
by  whi(!h  its  ancestors  formerly  allured 
the  eyes  of  bees  or  beetles. 

Here,  again,  on  the  roadside  is  a  bit 
of  plantain.  ICverybody  knows  its  flat 
rosette  of  green  leaves  and  its  tall  spike 
of  grass- like  blossom,  with  long  stamens 
hanging  out  to  catch  the  breeze.  Now 
plantain  is  a  case  exactly  analogous  to 
dog's  mercury.  It  is  an  example  of  a 
degraded  blossom.  Once  upon  a  tin)o 
it  was  a  sort  of  distant  cousin  to  the 
veronica,  that  pretty  sky-blue  speedwell 
which  abounds  among  the  meadows  in 
Juno  and  July.  But  these  particular 
speedwells  gave  up  devoting  themselves 
to  insects  and  became  adapted  for  fer- 
tilization by  the  wind  instead.  So  you 
must  look  close  at  them  to  see  at  all 
that  the  flowering  spike  is  made  up  of  a 
hundred  separate  little  four-rayed  blos- 
soms, whoso  pale  and  faded  petals  are 


^  of  ntnic- 

liloHMDillH 

til  Itrcaiiio 

iirct'NHiiry 

liii/tilinti  ; 

nii-li  liloH- 

t'H     to     tlll> 

li/ilili-   to 
tlid  {tri'N. 
Miicli  con* 
t  iM'iir  kII 
'  itlaiit  all 
n,  ai-o  tlio 
ISU   (loj^'s 
ijiirol  l)y 
no  lioiiuy 
u>  to  it  at 
ii(^   ]>olI('tl 
lat    tliosu 
•s     which 
tain     llio 
Hoon  got 
voiiM  oat 
n-vi'iitinjjf 
H  ;  whilo 
s    vvoiihl 
1  1(0  |>('r- 
licr   aftur 

when  n 
ilttl  upon 
hi von  hy 
tho  wind, 
itlvantii<.jo 
3  foatiirea 
\y  alhircd 

0  in  a  hit 

•s  its  flat 
tall  K{)ikc 
;  stallions 
0.  Now 
iij^ous  to 
ipio  of  a 
n  a  tiiiio 
n  to  the 
pcodwoll 
uluws  in 
larticuiar 
LMiisolvcs 
for  for- 
So  yoii 
CO  at  nil 
up  of  a 
13(1  bios- 
;tals  arc 


THE   EVOIiiriONIST   AT    I.AIMi;. 


1 1)  1 1  .'i;i 


ttirlcod  nwfiv  out  of  f»itxht  fhit  n.jainMt 
till!  *ti'iii.  Vot  fhoir  nhapo  ami  arrtiiiLt"'- 
iiKMit  <li'«fitn'tly  rocail  I  lie  lit'niitiftil  vi-- 
ronica,  ami  Icavo  oiii>  in  littjo  douht  a^ 
to  till*  orij^iii  of  tho  plant.  At  tho  Haiiio 
tiiiio  a  nii'ioiiH  do\  ii'o  ha>«  Hpriiiii;  up 
whii-h  aiiHWors  jiitt  tho  miiiio  piirpoKo  as 
tho  si'piiratioti  of  tho  iiialt^  and  foinnli' 
flower-*  on  tho  dole's  inoroury.  Kaili 
plantain  liloHtoui  has  hotli  Htaiii«-nH  and 
pistiU,  Ixit  tlii>  pi-^tiU  ooino  to  iiiatMrily 
iimt,  and  aro  fortiii/.i-<l  hy  pollen  lilowii 
to  theiii  from  Hoiiio  iKM^hhorinir  npiko. 
Their  feathery  phiines  are  ailniirahly 
adapted  for  eatehiii!^  and  iitiii/iii'^  any 
Mtray  t;oldoii  ijraiii  whieh  happens  to 
pass  that  way.  After  tho  pistils  have 
fail(!il,  tho  stanieiiH  ri|)en,  and  lian<r  out 
at  tho  end  of  loner  waviiiij  lllanietits,  so 
as  to  diseliart;(f  all  their  pollen  with 
ofTlM't.       (Ml  oaeh  spike  of  MossolllS    tlu! 

lowor  flowcHfts  open  lirst  ;  and  so,  if 
you  pieic  a  half.ldown  h[iiko,  you  will 
s(!0  tliat  all  tho  staiiieiiH  ai'o  ripi^  iiolow, 
and  all   tho    pistils    al)*»ve.      Wert;    tho 

<)[>positi!  arraiiLjeiiiiMit  to  -ur,  tho  p(»l- 

lon  would  fall  from  tint  Htaiiieiis  to  tho 
lowor  flowers  of  tho  samo  stalk  ;  hut  an 
tho  pistils  helow  have  always  hoon  fer- 
tilized and  withercil  hoforo  tho  stameiiH 
ripon,  thoro  is  no  «'lianet>  of  any  suidi 
Hccidont  and  its  oonso(jueiit  evil  results. 
Thus  Olio  can  soo  cloarly  that  the  plan- 
tain has  h(M>(uno  wholly  atla[>tod  to 
wind  -  fortili:ation,  and  as  a  natural 
clIo(!t  has  all  hut  lost  its  hrijiht-colorod 
corolla. 

(!oiiitnon  groundsel  is  also  a  case  of 
tho  saiiK!  kind  ;  hut  hero  tho  degrada- 
tion has  not  gono  noarly  ho  far.  I  voii- 
tnro  to  conjocture,  therefore,  that 
groundsel  has  hoon  eiiiharkod  for  a 
shorter  time  ujion  its  d<jwnward  course. 
For  evolution  is  not,  as  most  people 
Hoom  to  fancy,  a  thing  which  used  once 
to  take  place  ;  it  is  a  prucoss  taking 
place  around  us  every  day,  and  it  must 
necessarily  "ontinue  to  take  place  to  the 
end  of  all  time.  By  family  tho  ground- 
sel is  a  daisy  ;  hut  it  has  ac(juired  the 
strange  and  somewhat  abnormal  habit 
of  self-fertilization,  which  in  all  prob- 
ability will  ultimately  lead  to  its  totid 
extinction.  Hence  it  does  not  need 
tho  assistance  of  insects  ;  and  it  has  ac- 


fordinyly  nover  dovoli»pod  i>r  oUo  gol 
rid  of  the  brijiht  outer  r.»\.lloreti  which 
mav  olieo  have  altiaeteil  theiii,  IIh  imy 
l>ell-!«ha|ied  hlnNHoiiis  ntill  retain  their 
dwarf  yellow  corollas  ;  Imt  thev  are  al- 
iiio*«l  hidden  hy  tho  green  euplike  in« 
voHtniont  t)f  tho  tlowordioml,  and  ihoy 
are  not  i'on'«pii'Uous  eniMi(_di  to  arrest 
the  attention  of  the  pasHJie^  llii  s.  Hero, 
then,  wi)  have  an  o.xaniple  of  a  plant 
jll^<t  beginning  to  start  on  the  retroMrado 
path  already  traversed  by  the  pLutiiin 
and  tho  nmirges.  If  wo  eonld  meet 
prophetieally  with  a  uroiimNel  of  Mumo 
remote  fuliiro  eiiitiii\,  1  have  hitlo 
doubt  wu  bhollld  tliid  in  bel|-sh;iped 
petals  as  completely  ilegrailed  as  thosu 
of  tho  plantain  in  our  own  d.iv. 

Tho  general  principle  whiih  these 
eases  ilhistralo  is  that  wlnii  Iluwcr>  lia\o 
alwMVs  been  fertili/ed  bvllie  wind,  lliev 
lo'ver  have  brilliant  corollas  ;  when  lliey 
ae(|uirit  the  habit  of  impiemiating  their 
kind  by  tlo!  iiiter\(  ntioii  of  insects,  they 
almost  alwa\s  aci|uiro  al  tho  same  time 
alluring  colors,  perfumes,  and  honey  ;, 
ami  whi'ii  they  have  ttiieo  lu'eii  so  iin- 
pregnatecl,  and  then  revert  onco  more 
to  wind-fertili/ation,  or  bofMuno  nelf- 
fertilizers,  they  generally  retain  soma 
sym[)toms  of  their  earlier  habits,  in  the 
prescnci!  of  dwarfed  and  useless  petals, 
sometimes  green,  or  if  not  green  at 
least  devoid  of  tin  ir  former  attraetivn 
coloring.  Thus  every  plant  bears  upon 
its  very  face  the  history  of  its  whole 
previous  developmont. 


XV. 

nt'TTKUFLV    PSVf'IIOLOflV. 

A  HMAi.i,  red  -  and  -  black  butterfly 
poise  statuos(|uo  above  the  purple  blos- 
som of  this  tall  field-thistle.  With  iU. 
long  sucker  it  probes  industriously 
floret  after  floret  of  the  crowded  head, 
and  extracts  from  each  its  wee  droj)  of 
buried  nectar.  As  it  stands  just  at 
present,  the  dull  outer  sides  of  its  four 
wings  are  alono  displayed,  so  that  it 
does  not  form  a  conspicuous  mark  for 
passing  birds  ;  but  wlien  it  has  drunk 
up  tho  last  drop  of  lioiioy  from  the 
thistle  Hower,  and  flits  joyously  awiiy  to 
sock  another  purple  mass  of  the  same 


NW 


TIIK   KViH.t'riOMHT   AT   L.MIUK. 


tn*r\,  ll  win  opfri  iN  fi»it.«potli>i|  viin<«  In 
tlh*  "iitili.^ht,  iiriil  will  tlii'ii  kIiow  it<««'lf 
off  iu  oiiu  iiiiioiii;  llio  pri'ttli'nt  iif  our 

nMli\i'  iii'i'f't*.  I')i  I'll  llii»llt'.|inii|  i'nU- 
»\»u  <(f  nnuw  t\vi»  liiirii|ri'<l  Mcpariitit  lit- 

tit*     lM'|l-H||l|pl>l|     liloMOIIIN,     I'MMllcil     to* 

f Villi  r  for  till'  *i\kn  of  rnn^pi.MiiHi^nt'HH 
lllo  (I  ^ifl^lr  j;riM|p,  jiixl  lis  tiiii  li|o«Hi)|||s 

of  ilii>  lilatt  or  till)  >«\riiii;:i  nni  croMili'tl 
Into  l.ir-^i'r  tliiniir||  Ir.s  ilitixo  rlnotiT'*  ; 
iitnl,  ii><i'ii<'li  Mi'pfiniti'  llont  liti<«  luii'ctitry 
of  ItH  outi,  till)    lioit    or  litittcitly   mIio 

liirlltH  upon  till'  riillipOIIMil    (liiwiT-urniip 

CMii  liii«y  liiiiiHril"  fur  a  iiiiiiutcMir  two  in 
gi'lfiii'^  lit  tli(!  viirioim  ilropH  of  honey 
>*itliiiiit  tim  tii'iM'HHity  for  any  finlliiT 
«'li!iM.ri'  of  poxitioii  tli.'ii)  that  of  ri'volv- 
inu'  upon  IiIh  own  a\iH.  Jlcrn'ii  tlirnc 
roiiipo-itc  llowrfH  iir«  fjri'iit  favorin'H 
\^ilh  fill  inserts  wlioxK  Hin-kirs  urn  lonc^ 
I'lioiieli  to  reach  till)  Itottoni  of  tluir 
•Icinler  tiilx'H. 

The  l.lltterlly'H  \ie\V  of  life  \n  (lollKt- 
lesH  on  ihe  whole  a    eheerflll  one.       Vet 

'liiit  cxiNttMieti  must  III!  i*oini'tliin<;  ho 
tiearlv  niei-haiiieal  that  wit  prohalily 
overrate  iheaiiioitnt  of  enjo\  nieiit  wliieli 
)i(>  ilciivi'H  from  tlittin^  alioiit  ho  airily 
iimoiii;  tli(!  llower?',  and  paHHini;  his 
(lays  in  the  uiil)roU('ii  amusement  of 
mekinuf  lii|uiil  honey,  Siihjeciivi'ly 
viewed,  the  hutterlly  is  not  II  hijih  ordiT 
of  insect  ;  his  nervous  Hysteni  doi'H  not 
nhmv  that  provision  for  comparativelv 
fpoiitaneous  thouLfht  ami  action  which 
ve  tind  in  tho  more  intelligent  orders, 
like  llio  llicH,  liecH,  ants,  and  wasps. 
J I  is  iicr\es  artMill  frittered  away  in  little 
H(;parafi!  train;lia  ilistrihiited  anion;;  the 
vaiioiis  se!,'iiii'nts  of  his  liodv,  instead 
of  luiiiu-  j^uvenied  l>y  i\  siiiijln  jjreat 
Tentral  oririin,  or  hraiii,  who.si!  business 
it  always  is  to  correlate  and  co-ordinate 
complex  external  impressions.  This 
nhows  that  the?  butterlly's  movcincnta 
are  ahiiost  ai!  automatic,  or  simply  <le- 
pend(  lit  upon  immediato  external  stim- 
ulants  :  lit!  has  not  even  that  small 
capacity  for  deliberation  and  spontane- 
ous initiative  which  belonijs  to  his  rela- 
tion the  bee.  Tho  f.eedom  of  the  will 
is  ntithin^j  to  liim,  or  extends  nt  best  to 
tho  amount  olaimod  on  behalf  of  Iluri- 
dan's  uss  :  ho  can  just  choose  which  of 
two  c<pudistant  tlowcrs  shall  tirst  huvu 


till)  benefit  of  liUriltenlion,  and  iiothirtK 

•'l«e,       \V|iate\er    \iew   We    lake    ttli    ||,e 

nliMiriii't  inetaphyHical  ipti'«tioii,  it  U  nt 
least  certain  tliiit  ihe  hiufhir  iiiiimuN  ran 
do  much  more  than  this.  'l'h<'ir  biaiii 
iHablo  to  eorrelati!  a  va>«t  number  of  v%- 
tiTiml  iiiipri'ssioiis,  aiul  to  briin;  llnin 
under  the  intltnnce  of  cndh  hs  idi  as  or 
experieiieeM,  ho  as  lllially  to  e\ol\e  roii- 
diht  which  ilifTei-H  ViTV  widely  v.  ilh 
dilTereiit  I'ircimi'itanef^  and  dilTiieiit 
charaelcrx.  Kven  lhoii.xh  it  be  tiiie,  iu« 
determinisH  believe  (and  I  reckon  my- 
self iimon'4  them),  that  Mich  cotidnct  in 
the  iiecesHary  result  of  a^iveii  cliaiacter 
and  >,'iven  eircimistaiice*  — or,  if  yoil 
will,  of  a  particular  bet  of  iier\ouH 
structures  and  a  particular  hd  of  iv  In  mil 
stimuli — yet  wu  nil  know  that  it  in 
capable  of  varyint;  ho  indefinitely,  owinj^ 

to  till!  complexity   of    (he    htiuclures,   iiH 

to  be  practically  incalculable,  lliit  it 
is  not  MO  w ith  till!  biitteifly.  His  w holo 
life  is  cut  out  for  him  In  fori  band  ;  IiIh 
nervous  eonnections  are  so  simple,  and 
concspoiid  HO  directly  with  extiinal 
stimuli,  that  wo  can  almost  piedid  with 
eertiiinty  what  line  of  ndion  he  will 
piirfiiU!  under  iiny  ^iveti  <  iMiiniHtaneei*. 
lie  is,  as  it  were,  but  a  piece  of  half- 
eonsciouH  inechanism,  answering  iminc* 
diatily  to  impulses  from  without,  just 
as  till!  thermometer  answers  to  varia- 
tions of  temperature,  and  as  the  telc- 
'.;niphic  indicator  answers  to  each  niak- 
iiiLT  ami  breakitii^  of  thoelectrii  cnricnt. 
In  early  life  tho  future  biiHertly 
emerges  iom  tho  opjjj  us  a  eateipillar. 
At  once  Ms  many  lej^s  be^^in  to  move, 
ami  the  caterpillar  moves  forward  by 
their  motion.  liiit  tho  ineclianisiu 
which  sot  them  movin-;  was  the  nervous 
system,  with  its  pinglia  working;  tlio 
separate  leers  of  each  seijment.  This 
movement  is  probably  quite  as  automatic 
as  the  act  of  sucking  in  tlu!  ni'W-born  in- 
fant. The  caterpillar  walks,  it  knows 
not  why,  but  simply  because  it  has  to 
walk.  When  it  reaches  a  lit  place  for 
feeding,  which  ditTor.s  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  particidar  larva,  it  foods 
automatically.  Certain  special  external 
stimulants  of  sight,  einoll,  or  touch  8ct 
up  tho  npj)ropriato  actions  in  tho 
niundiblcs,  just  as  contact  of  tlio  lips 


TllK   KVOI.rTlONIHT   AT   I.\U«»K 


|i»:i|  M 


ri)|  nollt'thK 

||<l<  Mil  i!,«« 
oil,   it    \n  lit 

iniiiiiiU  run 
llxir  liiiiiii 
iil>i'r  of  i»x- 
tiriiiu  tliiiii 
MM  i>li  iiM  or 

I'Volvo  I'OII- 

iiltly    V, itii 

I  tlilTdtiit 

\n>   tlllf,    IIM 

it'tkuii  my. 
t'oniliii't  in 

II  rliiMiirttT 

or,  if  J  oil 
>f    iicr^iiiiM 

of  «'\tl'ltllll 

that  it  Ih 
t»'ly,  owinjj; 

IICllllT"*,    HH 

l*>.      Hut  it 

I  I  IK   mIioIo 

1  lifiiid  ;  hJH 

>illl[lli>,  iitxl 

ii  (Ml  mill 
M'llii't  with 

III  he    will 

IIIIIHtllhCt'H. 
(  »'    of    lllllf- 

I'iii^  iiiiiiio* 

tllOllt,     jllHt 

■*  to  viiiia- 
H  tlu!  tulc- 
(')ii'li  iniik. 
•i(;  cuiicnt. 
u  biittcitly 
('at('i|iillar. 
1  to  move, 
or  Willi  I  by 
iiic'ciiiiniNin 
111'  nrrvoiis 
orkiiij;  tho 
flit.  This 
siuitotiintic 
■\v-l>orii  iri- 
it  knows 
0  it  iuiH  to 
t  phico  for 
linj^  to  tho 
a,  it  feeds 
al  oxternal 
'  touch  net 
m  in  tho 
}f  tho  lip:i 


wiifi  m  isti'rniil  ltn«ly  •«*l«  ii|»  oiicklntr 
ill  thi<  iiiffiiit.  All  till  •<•  niou'iiM'iitM 
di  |ii  nd  u|)'iii  what  wi>  ivill  in^liiM  t — that 
i«  to  Niiy,  ortfNuii'  Iiiil)it4  ri'ui"ti*ri'i|  in 
till'  niT^oiH  »y»lt'ni  of  ilu-  ra<i'.  Thi-y 
havi>  iiiimM  liy  itatiiral  MliM'timi  iiloiii>, 

I an»<'  tliit«it  liimM'U  wliiidi  dniy  per- 

fiiriiii'il  iIm'Iii  utirxivi'd,  mid  tlio><i>  wlilrh 
did  Hot  diilv  |i<'if>iiiii  ilit'iii  di'd  out. 
Afli'r  II  t'ondderald'i  M|iati  of  lifn  upont 
ill  fi'i'dlii'^  nil  I  W)ilkiii'<  alndit  in  M'ar<  h 
of  iiiorit  food,  lliM  ratirpillur  om*  Any 
found  itM'lf  I'oiiiptdled  l>y  an  inner 
monitor  !•»  iiltrr  itn  haliit"*.  Wliv.  it 
kiK'W  Hot  ;  Init,  jiMt  <ih  a  tired  •liild 
ninkM  to  h|(i>p,  ihi*  ^orued  and  full-fid 
eatirpillar  Hiitik  pi'm-ifully  into  a  <lor- 
mint  stale.  TInii  ifn  tiHsiH's  melted 
one  hy  out)  into  a  kind  of  orij;anie  pap, 
niid  IN  iMitiTsklii  liMidiiH'd  iiilo  ai'lirys- 
ali^.  W'itliin  that  Moliij  i'ii<<(>  ntw  IIiiiIih 
and  ofuaiis  lle^;t'''•  •'•  urow  l»y  hereditary 
itiipiil'*  -4.      At  tint  r<aine  tiiiD'  the  form 

of  till!    nervous    Mystelii    altered,    to    HIlit 

the  hiiTJier  and  fleer  life  fur  whii  h  the 
iiiteet  vvan  uni'oiiseiuii«ly  prepaiiii;^  't- 
nelf.  Fewer  and  Hiinller  Kaiijrlia  now 
appeared  in  the  tail  He;riueiits  (-.inee  no 
h';;s  would  any  loiivter  he  needed  there), 
while  more  iiiipDi'tant  oiieH  Mpraii;^  up 
to);;overn  the  iiintioiis  of  the  four  winL;«, 
liiit  it  was  in  tin;  Ik  ad  that  thu  ^reiiteht 
chaiiLfi's  took  plaee.  There,  a  rudi- 
mentary hrai.:  inade  its  a|ipearanee,  with 
larufe  opiio  i'. aires,  anwwetinj;  to  the 
far  lU'irt!  perfect  and  important  eyi's  of 
the  fiitiiio  huttertlv.  I''orthe  llviii''  in- 
Heet  will  havo  to  Ktoer  its  way  throiiLtli 
open  space,  instead  of  ere('|>ini4  over 
leaves  and  stones  ;  and  it  will  have  to 
HUck  the  honey  of  Mowers,  as  well  as  to 
choosi!  its  littin<4  mate,  all  of  which  d<!- 
iiiands  from  it  hi;;her  and  keener  senses 
than  those  of  the  purlilind  caterpillar. 
At  length  one  day  the  chrysalis  hursts 
asunder,  and  the  insect  emerp's  to  view 
on  a  summer  morniu};  as  u  full-tledgej 
and  heautiful  huttertly. 

For  a  minuto  or  two  it  stands  and 
Vraits  till  the  air  it  hrcathes  has  lilled 
out  its  winirs,  and  till  tho  warmth  and 
sunlif^ht  havo  p;ivcn  it  8trenf|;th.  For 
tho  winfjs  arc  by  origin  a  part  of  tin; 
brealhinii;  apparatus,  and  they  require 
to  be  plimmcd  by  tho  air  before  the  in- 


«i>et  <*iin  tiiko  to   (litilif.    Tlit>n,  n<  il 

i;rows  more  iiecii<itoitit>d  lo  it*  new  life, 
the  hereijit.'iiy  inipuUe  caii"!  >•  it  ti> 
■pread  ilR  van*  iibitrnd,  and  il  tliei«. 
S.Min  a  tlower  catehen  its  i-vc,  hihI  tim 
brit^ht  iiiii«s  of  coloi  attracts  il  irre»i'l» 
ibiy,  as  tin*  eandle-liuht  attraets  ihe  i>t« 
of  a  child  a  few  wt  ek«  old.  it  x't*  olf 
lowatd  the  pjitcli  of  ri'd  or  \e||nw,  pri>l>- 
ably  not  biowin-x  In  forehaiitl  that  thi* 
is  the  \i«il>le  «\mlio|of  food  for  it,  hut 
ineri'ly  j;uide.|  |.\  the  blind  habit  oj'  ii^ 
race,  imprinted  with  bindiiiLf  force  in 
the  very  eoie.liliilioii  of  its  l.od\.  Thin 
the  mollis,  wlii<  Il  tl)  by  ni;.dit  and  vi^il 
only  white  flowers  whose  cor<  lias  still 
shine  out  in  the  fvili-jjlit,  are  xo  irri"«isf. 
ibiv  leii  on  by  the  iSteMial  stimulus  of 
liuiit  from  a  candle  falling  upon  their 
eyes  that  they  cnnnot  choice  but  liio\o 
their  win^s  rapiilly  in  that  direilinn  ; 
and  thouifh  sin^xed  and  blinded  twii'e  or 
three  times  by  the  tlaliie,  must  still 
wheel  and  eddy  into  it,  till  at  last  they 
perish  in  the  fcorcliinu  bla/e.  Their 
in»tincts,  or,  to  put  it  more  chaily, 
their  simple  nervous  im  chaniHin,  thniiirh 
admirably  adapted  to  their  naliiial  eir- 
eunistaliccs,  <>aiinot  be  eijually  adapted 
to  Mii'h  arlilieial  objects  as  wax  candles, 
'i'he  biitterlly  in  like  maiiiKr  is  attracted 
automatically  by  the  color  of  his  proper 
tlowers,  and  scttlint;  upon  them,  sin-k^ 
up  their  honey  iiistinctivelv.  Hut  fced- 
in<;  is  not  notv  his  only  object  in  life  ; 
he  has  to  find  and  pair  with  a  suitablo 
mate.  That,  iiidecil,  is  the  jxreat  end 
of  his  wiii'^eil  cvistenee.  litre,  ai^aiii, 
his  simple  nervous  Hystcin  stands  him 
in  j^otid  stead.  The  picture  of  his  Kind 
is,  as  it  were,  impriiitotl  on  his  littlt) 
brain,  and  he  knows  his  tiwn  mates  ihtj 
moment  Im  sees  them,  just  as  intuitively 
as  he  knows  the  llowcrs  upon  which  ho 
must  fcetl.  Now  we  set!  the  reastui  for 
the  biittertly's  lari,'eoptie  centres  :  they 
have  to  ifui<lt>  it  in  all  its  movements. 
In  like  manner,  and  by  a  like  meclian- 
ism,  the  female  biitterrty  or  moth  select* 
the  riLjlit  spot  for  lay injj  h(!re;rt;s,  whii;h 
of  course  dejiends  entirely  upon  the  niv- 
ture  of  the  younf;  caterjiillars'  jtrttper 
fot)d.  Kach  fjreat  t;roup  of  inst-'cts  haw 
its  own  habits  in  this  respect,  inay-flici 
laying  their  eggs  on  the  water,   many 


86  [04J 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUUE. 


boctlos  on  wood,  fllos  on  docayinsf  ani- 
niiit  tuattiT,  and  ImtterfliKH  mostly  on 
gpccial  plants.  Tims  throuirlioiit  its 
wliolc  life  tilt'  l>ntt<Mtly'H  activity  in  en- 
tirely ^jovcrnoil  by  a  riijid  law,  roj^istcrcMJ 
and  tix((il  forever  in  the  constitution  of 
its  ijHii<j;lia  and  motor  nerves.  (Jertain 
detinite  nl)jeet.soiitsidt!  it  invariably  pro- 
diice  certain  detinite  movements  on  the 
insert's  part.  No  doubt  it  is  vaiifuely 
conscious  of  all  that  it  does  ;  no  doubt 
it  tierives  a  faint  pleasure  from  due  ex- 
ercise of  all  its  vital  functions,  and  a 
faint  pain  when  they  are  injured  or 
thwarted  ;  but  on  thp  whole  its  ranu;o 
of  action  is  narrowed  and  bounded  by 
its  hereditary  instincts  and  their  ner- 
vous correlatives.  It  may  light  on  one 
flower  rather  than  anotlier  ;  it  may 
choose  a  fresher  and  brighter  mate 
rather  than  a  battered  and  dingy  one  ; 
but  its  little  subjectivity  is  a  mere 
shadow  eompared  with  ours,  and  it 
hardly  deserves  to  be  eoiisidered  as 
more  than  a  semi-conscious  automatic 
machine. 


XVI. 

BUTTERFLY    ESTHETICS. 

TriE  other  (hiy,  wlien  I  was  watching 
that  little  red-spotted   butterfly   whose 

f)syehology  I  found  so  interesting,  I 
ujrdly  took  enough  account,  perhaps, 
of  the  insect's  own  subjective  feelings 
of  pleasure  and  pain.  The  first  great 
point  to  understand  about  these  minute 
creatures  is  that  they  are,  after  all, 
mainly  pieces  of  automatic  mechanism  : 
the  se('ond  great  point  is  to  understand 
that  they  are  })robaMy  something  more 
than  that  as  well.  To-day  I  have  found 
anotlier  exactly  similar  butterfly,  and  I 
am  going  to  work  out  with  myself  the 
other  half  of  the  problem  about  him. 
Granted  that  the  insect  is,  viewed  in- 
tellectually, a  cunning  bit  of  nervous 
machinery,  may  it  not  be  true  at  the 
same  tir.ie  that  he  is,  viewed  emotion- 
ally, a  faint  copy  of  ourselves  ? 

Here  he  stands  on  a  purple  thistle 
again,  true,  pt  usual,  to  the  plant  on 
wliiM  I  last  lound  him.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  he  distinguishes  one  color 
from  another,  for  you  can  artificially  at- 


'  tract  him  by  putting  ft  picco  of  ptirt)lo 
paper  on  a  green  leaf,  just  as  tho  flower 
naturally  attracts  him  with  its  native 
hue.  Numerous  observations  and  ex- 
[leriments  have  proved  with  all  but  ab- 
Holuto  certainty  that  his  discrimination 
of  color  is  essentiiilly  identical  with  our 
own  ;  and  I  think,  if  we  run  our  eyo 
up  and  down  nature,  observing  how  uni- 
versally all  animals  are  attracted  by  puro 
and  bright  ctJors,  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  ho  appreciates  and  admires  color  as 
well  as  discriminates  it.  Mr.  Darwin 
(icrtaiidy  judges  that  butterflies  can  show 
an  Histhetic  preference  of  the  sort,  for 
he  sets  down  their  own  lovely  hues  to 
the  constant  sexual  selection  of  tho 
handsomest  mates.  Wo  must  not, 
however,  take  too  human  a  measure  of 
their  cajjaeities  in  this  respect.  It  is 
suflicient  to  believe  that  the  insect  de- 
rives some  direct  enjoyment  from  tho 
stimulation  of  i)ure  color,  and  is  hered- 
itarily attracted  by  it  wherever  it  may 
show  itself.  This  pleasure  draws  it  on, 
on  the  one  han(1,  toward  the  gay  flowers 
which  form  its  natural  food  ;  and,  on 
tho  other  hand,  toward  its  own  brilliant 
mates.  Imprinted  on  its  nervous  sys- 
tem is  a  certain  blank  form  answering 
to  its  own  sj)ecific  type  ;  and  when  the 
object  corresponding  to  this  blank  form 
occurs  in  its  neighborhood,  the  insect 
blindly  obeys  its  hereditary  instinct. 
But  out  of  two  or  three  such  possible 
mates  it  naturally  selects  that  which  is 
most  brightly  spotted,  and  in  other 
ways  most  perfectly  fulfils  tho  specific 
ideal.  We  need  not  suppose  that  the 
insect  is  conscious  of  making  a  selection 
or  of  the  reasons  which  guide  it  in  its 
choice  :  it  is  enough  to  believe  that  it 
follows  the  strongest  stimulus,  just  as 
the  child  picks  out  the  biggest  and  red- 
dest apple  from  a  row  of  ten.  Yet  such 
unconscious  selections,  made  from  time 
to  time  in  generation  after  generation, 
have  sufficed  to  produce  at  last  all  the 
beautiful  spots  and  metallic  eyelets  of 
our  loveliest  English  or  tropical  butter- 
flies. Insects  always  accustomed  to  ex- 
ercising their  color-sense  upon  flowers 
and  mates,  may  easily  acquire  a  high 
standard  of  taste  in  that  direction,  while 
still  remaining  comparatively  in  a  low 


TIIK   EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUOE 


[05]  87 


of  purnlo 
tho  llower 
its  twitive 
»  and  ox- 
ill   but  jib- 
riinin.'ition 
il  witli  our 
n  our  oyo 
i^Iiow  uui- 
I'd  by  [)!:ra 
lly  doubt 
OS  '.'olor  as 
Darwin 
■scan  show 
L'  sort,  for 
ly  luios  to 
L>n   of  tlio 
must   not, 
measure  of 
oct.     It  la 
insect  de- 
t  from  tho 
d  is  hered- 
vcr  it  may 
raws  it  on, 
r^ay  Howors 
I  ;  and,  on 
vn  brilliant 
ervous  sys- 
answering 
1  when  tlie 
blank  form 
the  insect 
y  instinct. 
;h  possible 
t  which  ia 
.   in   other 
lie  specific 
e  tliat  the 
a  selection 
lo  it  in  its 
ive  that  it 
lis,  just  as 
t  and  red- 
Yet  such 
from  time 
:cneration, 
ist  all  the 
eyelets  of 
3ai  butter- 
led  to  ex- 
)n  flowers 
re  a  high 
ion,  while 
in  a  low 


stape  as  rorjards  their  intellectual  con- 
dition. But  the  f.K't  i  wish  ospeeially 
to  emphasize  is  this — tliat  the  fiowers 
produced  by  tho  color-sense  of  butter- 
flies and  their  alTu^s  are  just  those  ob- 
)'fi(;ts  which  we  ourselves  consider  most 
ovely  in  nature  ;  and  that  the  marks 
and  shades  ujton  their  own  winirs,  pro- 
duced l)y  the  loiii;  selective  action  of 
their  mates,  arc  just  the  thiiii;s  which 
we  ourselves  consider  most  beautiful 
in  the  animal  world,  in  this  respect, 
then,  there  seems  to  be  a  close  com- 
niunitv  of  taste  and  fticliu''  between  the 
buttertly  and  ourselves. 

Let  me  note,  too,  just  in  passing, 
that  whi'e  the  upper  half  of  the  butter- 
fly's wiiiLf  is  generally  beautiful  in  color, 
so  as  to  attract  his  fastidious  mate,  the 
under  half,  displiiycd  wliih;  he  is  at  rest, 
is  almost  always  dull,  and  oft'?n  resem- 
bles the  plant  upon  which  he  habitually 
alights.  The  first  set  of  colors  is  obvi- 
ously due  to  sexual  selection,  ami  has 
for  its  object  thi!  making  an  elfective 
courtship  :  but  the  scciuid  set  is  obvi- 
ously due  to  natural  selection,  and  has 
been  produced  by  the  fact  that  all 
th(»s(  insects  whose  bright  colors  show 
through  too  vivitlly  when  they  are  at 
rest  fall  a  [uey  to  birds  or  other  ene- 
mies, leaving  only  the  best  protected  to 
continue  the  life  of  the  species. 

But  sight  is  not  the  only  important 
sense  to  the  butterfly,  lie  is  largely 
moved  and  guided  by  smell  as  well. 
IJolh  bees  and  butterflies  seem  largely  to 
Bcli'ct  the  flowers  they  vi.sit  by  means 
of  smell,  thouifh  eoh  r  also  aids  them 
greatly.  When  we  remember  that  in 
ants  scent  alone  does  duty  instead  of 
eyes,  ears,  or  any  other  sense,  it  would 
hardly  be  possible  to  doubt  that  other 
allied  insects  possessed  the  same  faculty 
in  a  high  degree  :  and,  as  Dr.  Hastiaii 
says,  there  seems  good  reason  for  be- 
lieving that  all  the  higher  insects  are 
guided  almost  as  much  by  smell  as  by 
sight.  Now  it  is  noteworthy  that  most 
of  those  flowers  which  lay  themselves 
out  to  attract  bees  and  buttei flies  are 
not  only  colored  but  sweetly  scented  ; 
and  it  is  to  this  cause  that  we  owe  the 
perfumes  of  the  rose,  the  lily-of-the- 
vallcy,  the  heliotrope,  the  ja.sminc,  the 


violet,  and  the  stephanotis.  Night- 
tlowering  plants,  which  depend  entirely 
for  their  iertili/ation  upon  moths,  are 
almost  always  white,  and  have  usually 
very  powerful  {)erfumes.  Is  it  not  a 
striking  fact  that  these  various  scents 
are  exactly  those;  which  human  beings 
most  admire,  and  which  they  artificially 
extract  for  essences  i  Here,  again,  we 
see  that  the  a-sthetic  tastes  of  butterflies 
and  men  decidedly  agree  ;  and  that  the 
thyme  or  lavender  whose  perfume 
pleases  the  bee  is  the  very  thing  which 
we  ourselves  choose  to  sweeten  our 
rooms. 

Finally,  if  wo  look  at  the  sense  of 
taste,  we  find  an  e(|ually  curious  jigree- 
metit  between  nn-n  and  insects  ;  for  tho 
honey  which  is  stored  by  the  flower  for 
the  l>ee  and  bv  the  bee  for  its  own  use,  is 
stolen  and  eaten  up  by  man  instead. 
Hence,  when  I  consider  the  general  con- 
tinuity of  nervous  structure  tliroughont 
the  whole  animal  race, and  the  exact  simi- 
larity of  the  stimulus  in  each  instance, 
I  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  butterfly 
really  enjo\s  life  somewhat  us  we  enjoy 
it,  though  far  less  vividly.  I  cannot 
but  think  that  he  finds  lnuiey  sweet,  and 
perfumes  pleasnnf,  and  color  attractive  ; 
that  he  feels  a  lightsome  gladness  as  lie 
flits  in  the  sunshine  from  flower  to 
flower,  and  that  he  knows  a  faint  thrill 
of  pleasure  at  the  sight  of  his  chosen 
mate.  Still  more  is  this  belief  forced 
upon  me  when  I  recollect  that,  so  far  as 
I  can  judge,  throughout  the  whole  ani- 
mal world,  save  only  in  a  few  aberrant 
types,  sugar  is  sweet  to  taste,  and 
thyme  to  smell,  and  song  to  hear,  and 
sunsliiiK!  to  bask  in.  Therefore,  on  the 
whole,  while  1  a<lmit  that  the  butterfiy 
is  mainly  an  animated  })uppet,  I  must 
(pialify  my  opinion  by  inlding  that  it  is 
a  puppet  which,  after  its  \aguc  little 
fashion,  thinks  and  feels  very  much  as 
we  do. 


xvir. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF    WALNUTS. 

Mr.  Darwin  ?ias  devoted  no  small 
portion  of  his  valuable  life  to  tracing, 
in  two  bulky  volumes,  the  l)esc<'nt  of 
Man.     Yet  I  suppose  it  is  probable  that 


88  [1)6] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAIIUE. 


c 


in  our  narrow  nnthropinisin  we  should 
luuc!  rotiisi'tl  to  listen  to  liini  had  hi- 
pivon  us  two  vohiiiiOH  innti'iid  on  the 
Descent  of  Wiihiuts.  Viewed  aH  u 
question  merely  of  hioloyieal  science, 
the  one  siilijeet  is  just  as  iMi[>ortant  as 
the  other.  lint  the  old  (Jreek  doctrine 
that  "  man  is  the  measure  of  all  tiiitiL^s" 
is  stron;^  in  us  still.  W'c  form  for  our- 
Belves  a  sort  of  [)re-(\>pernican  universe, 
in  which  the  world  occupies  the  central 
point  of  space,  and  man  occupies  the 
cential  point  of  the  woild.  What 
touches  man  interests  us  dee[)ly  ;  what 
concerns  him  hut  slightly  we  pass  over 
as  of  no  consctjueiKX'.  Nevertheless, 
even  the  orii^in  and  development  of 
walnuts  is  asuhject  upon  which  we  may 
protitahly  reflect,  not  wholly  without 
gratification  and  interest. 

This  kiln-dried  walmit  on  my  plate, 
which  has  su;;ij;estcd  such  abstract  coLji- 
tations  to  my  mind,  is  .shown  by  its 
rerv  name  to  bo  a  foreiij;!!  produtition  ; 
for  the  word  contains  the  same  root  as 
Wales  and  Welsh,  the  old  Teutonic 
name  for  men  of  a  different  race,  which 
the  Oermans  still  apply  to  tho  Italians, 
and  w(!  ourselves  to  tho  last  relics  of  the 
old  Keltic  population  in  Southern  Rrit- 
ain.  It  means  "  tho  foreiixn  nut,"  and 
it  comes  for  the  most  part  f  om  the 
south  of  Kurope.  As  a  nut,  it  repre- 
sents a  very  different  ty|)e  of  fruit  from 
tho  strawl)erry  and  raspberry,  with  their 
l)riu;ht  colors,  sweet  juices,  and  nutri- 
tious pulp.  Those  fruits  wliich  alone 
bear  the  name  in  common  parlance  are 
attractive  in  their  object  ;  tho  nuts  are 
deterrent.  An  orange  or  a  plum  is 
hriiihlly  tinted  with  hues  which  contrast 
8tn)ni«:ly  with  the  surrounding^  foliajfo  ; 
its  {)leasant  taste  and  soft  pulp  all  ad- 
vertise it  for  the  notice  of  bii'ds  or 
monkeys,  as  a  means  for  assistiniif  in  tho 
dispersion  of  its  seed.  But  a  nut,  on 
tho  contrary,  is  a  fruit  whose  actual 
seed  contains  an  ahui  dance  of  oils  and 
other  pleasant  food-stuffs,  which  must 
be  carefully  jjuarded  against  tho  depre- 
dations of  possil)le  foes.  In  tho  plum 
or  the  orange  we  do  not  eat  the  seed  it- 
self :  we  only  eat  the  surrounding  pulp. 
But  in  the  walnut  the  part  which  we 
utilize  is  the  embryo  plant  itself  ;  and 


so  tlio  walnut's  great  object  in  life  is  to 
avoid  being  eaten.  Accoidingly,  that 
part  of  the  fruit  which  in  the  plum  ia 
stored  with  sweet  juices  is,  in  the  wal- 
nut, filled  with  a  bitter  and  very  nau- 
seous essence.  We  seldom  see  this 
bitter  covering  in  our  over-civilized  life, 
because  it  is,  of  course,  removed  before 
the  nuts  come  to  table.  The  walnut 
has  but  a  thin  shell,  and  is  poorlv  pio- 
teeted  in  eom[)arison  with  some  of  its 
relations,  such  as  the  American  butter- 
nut, which  can  only  be  cracked  by  a 
sharp  blow  from  a  hammer — or  oven 
the  hickorv,  whose  hard  covering  has 
done  more  to  destroy  the  teeth  of  New 
Knglanders  than  all  either  causes  ])nt  to- 
gether, atid  New  luigland  teeth  aie  uid- 
versally  admitted  to  bo  the  very  worst 
in  the  world.  Now,  all  nuts  have  to 
guard  against  s(|uirri  's  and  birds  ;  and 
therefore  their  peculiarities  are  exactly 
opposite  to  those  of  succulent  fruits. 
Inste.'id  t)f  attracting  attenti  ui  bv  being 
brightly  colored,  they  are  in\arial)ly 
green  like  tho  leaves  while  thoy  remidn 
on  tho  tree,  and  brown  or  dusky  like 
the  soil  when  they  fall  uj)on  the  ground 
beneath  ;  instead  of  being  iiiclo.sed  in 
sweet  et»ats,  they  are  provided  with 
bitter,  acrid,  or  stinging  husks  ;  and, 
instead  of  being  soft  in  texture,  they 
are  surrounded  l»y  hard  shells,  like  tho 
cocoanut,  or  have  a  perfectly  solid  ker- 
nel, like  tho  vegetable  i /ory. 

The  origin  of  nuts  is  thus  exactly  tho 
reveise  side  of  the  origin  of  fiuits. 
Certain  seeds,  richly  stored  with  oils 
and  star<:hes  for  aiding  the  growth  of 
tlio  young  ])lant,  are  exposed  to  the  at- 
tacks of  s(piirrels,  ujonkeys,  parrots, 
and  other  arboretd  animals.  Tho 
greater  part  of  them  are  eaten  and  com- 
pletely destroyed  by  these  their  ene- 
mies, and  so  never  hand  down  their  pe- 
culiarities to  any  dosceiidant;..  But  all 
fruits  vary  a  little  in  sweetness  and  bit- 
terness, pulpy  or  stringy  tendencies. 
Thus  a  few  among  them  happen  to  be 
protected  from  destruction  by  their 
originally  accidental  possession  of  a  bit- 
ter husk,  a  liard  shell,  or  a  few  awkward 
spines  and  bristles.  These  the  monkeys 
and  squirrels  reject  ;  and  tliey  alone 
survive  as  tlie  parents  of  future  genera- 


n  life  is  to 
"kLv,  tliat 
>o  pliiiii  is 
1  tilt!  wal- 
vory  iinii. 
sfi'  tliia 
ilizcd  life, 
«'(1  l)(  fore 
le  wjiiiiut 

tXM'lv  jno- 

Mif  of  its 
111  Itiittcr- 
Ivdl    liy   a 
—or  oven 
•  riiii,'  lias 
li  of  iN'ow 
"•'>*  put  to- 
•  l«  aie  utii- 
v<rv  worst 
iav(!   to 
inls  ;  and 
re  exactly 
lit    fruits, 
I  '>y  Ix'iiio- 
iinariahiy 
ey  rt'iiijiin 
Jiisl<y  lil<o 
lit"  ^'•roiiiid 
itlo.sL'd  in 
dc'd    wlih 
■l<s  ;  and, 
lire,    tlu'y 
',  liice  tlio 
solid  kcr- 

iJictly  tlio 
>f  fill  its, 
"itii    oils 

I'OHlll    of 

o  the  at- 

j'arrots, 
.  Tiie 
ind  com- 
it'ir  cne- 
llu'ir  pe- 

But  all 
and  l)it- 
dcncic's. 
n  to  be 
y  tlu'ir 
>f  n  liit- 
wjxward 
ion  keys 
!  alone 
genera- 


TIIE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAUGE. 


[97]  89 


tions.  Tilt!  more  persistent  and  tlie 
liiinirritT  tlieir  fous  liceome,  tiie  less  will 
n  small  deLijree  of  hitlerness  or  hardness 
serve  to  [jrotect  tlieni.  llenee,  from 
generation  to  <j;eneration,  the  bitterness 
and  the  hardm-ss  will  j^o  on  increasini;, 
because  only  tiiose  nuts  whiidi  are  the 
nasti(Vit  and  the  most  ditliciilt  to  crack 
will  esc,a[)e  (h'struetion  from  tlie  teetli 
or  bills  of  the  jifrowini^  and  pressiiiL; 
pojHilation  of  rodents  and  i)irds.  The 
nut  which  best  survives  on  the  averai^i! 
is  that  whicii  is  least  conspicuous  in 
color,  has  a  rind  of  the  most  objection- 
able taste,  and  is  inclosed  in  tlie  most 
solid  shell.  Hut  the  (  xtent  to  whi(;h 
such  precautions  become  necessary  will 
depend  much  upon  the  particular  ani  • 
nials  to  whose  attacks  the  nuts  of  each 
cnuntiy  are  exposeil.  The  Kiiropean 
walii';'.  'vis  only  to  defy  a  few  small 
wooui; ml  animals,  who  are  sutlicienlly 
deterred  !>y  its  acrid  husk  ;  the  Ameri- 
can butternut  has  to  withstand  the  loiin' 
teeth  of  much  more  formida!>lc  forcst- 
ine  rodents,  whom  it  sets  at  naui^'ht 
with  its  stony  and  wrinkle<l  shell  ;  and 
the  tropical  cocoas  and  IJrazil  nuts  have 
to  csca|ie  the  monkey,  who  pounds 
them  with  ston<'s,  or  tlings  them  with 
ail  his  )nii;ht  from  the  tree-to[>  si)  as  to 
smash  them  in  their  fall  against  the 
groun  I  below. 

Oui  own  hazelnut  supplies  an  excel- 
lent illustration  of  the  gejieral  tactics 
adopt  il  Ity  <'i  'lilts  at  larn'c.  Tiie  lit- 
tle re(i  tufte  i  i.lrssoms  whicli  everybody 
knows  so  -vc!!  i'  early  spriiii;  are  eacli 
Rurrouiideil  bv  ;i  !■  uch  of  three  bracts  ; 
and  as  the  nut  j;rows  bigger,  these 
bracts  form  a  green  leaf-like  covering, 
which  causes  it  to  look  very  much  like 
the  ordinarv  foliage  of  the  hazel-tree. 
Besides,  they  are  tii'ckly  set  with  small 
prickly  hairs,  which  are  extremely  an- 
noying to  the  lingers,  and  must  prove 
far  more  unpleasant  to  the  delicate  lips 
and  noses  of  lower  animals.  Just  at 
present  the  nuts  have  reached  this  stage 
in  our  copses  ;  but  as  soon  as  autumn 
sets  in,  and  the  seeds  are  ripe,  they  will 
turn  brown,  fall  out  of  their  withered 
investment,  and  easily  escape  notice  on 
the  soil  beneath,  where  the  dead  leaves 
will  soon  cover  them  up  in  a  mass  of 


shrivelled  brown,  indistinguishable  in 
sjiaile  from  the  nuts  themselves.  Take, 
as  an  exam|»le  of  the  mon;  carefully  pro- 
tected tropical  kimls,  the  eoi-oannt. 
(irowing  on  a  \ery  tall  palm-tree,  it  has 
to  fall  a  eonsidcraiile  distance  toward  tho 
earth  ;  and  so  it  is  wrapped  round  in  a 
mass  of  loos(!  knitt(.'d  fibre,  which 
breaks  the  fall  just  as  a  lot  of  soft  wool 
would  do.  Then,  being  a  large  ijit, 
fully  stored  with  an  abumlance  of  meat, 
it  otiers  special  attractions  to  iiiiimals, 
and  coiiseipieiitly  rcijuires  special  means 
of  defence.  Accordingly  its  shell  is 
extravagantly  thick,  only  one  small  oft 
spot  being  left  at  the  blunter  end, 
through  which  the  yonng  plant  may 
push  its  head.  Once  upon  a  tiiiie,  to 
be  sure,  the  coeoaiiut  (•ontaiiicd  three 
kernels,  and  had  three  such  snt't  s[iiits 
or  holes  ;  but  now  two  of  them  aio 
aborted,  and  I  he  two  holes  icniiJn  only 
in  the  form  of  hard  seal's.  The  Biazil- 
niit  is  even  a  better  illustration.  1 'rob- 
ably  few  people  know  that  the  irnuular 
aiigiilar  nuts  whicli  appear  atde.-s.'it  by 
that  name  are  originally  contaiiied  in- 
side a  single  round  shell  where  they  fit 
tightly  together,  and  actjuire  their  cpiecr 
indefinite  slia|)es  by  tnutiial  pressure. 
So  the  South  American  monkey  has 
tiist  to  crack  the  thick  extei  lal  common 
shell  against  a  stoin;  or  otherwise  ;  and, 
if  he  is  successful  in  this  jirocess,  he 
must  afterward  break  the  separate 
sharp-edged  inner  nuts  with  his  teeth  — 
a  performance  which  is  always  painful 
and  often  ineh^'ctual. 

Vet  it  is  curious  that  nuts  and  fruita 
are  really  productnl  by  the  very  slightest 
variations  on  a  common  ty[)e,  so  miicli 
so  that  the  technical  botanist  dies  not 
recognize  the  pojiular  distinction  be- 
tween them  at  all.  In  his  eyes,  the 
walnut  and  the  cocoanut  are  not  nuts, 
but  "  drupaceous  fruits,"  just,  like  the 
plum  and  the  cherry.  All  four  alike 
contain  a  kernel  within,  a  hard  shell 
outside  it,  and  a  fibrous  mass  outside 
that  again,  bounded  by  a  thin  external 
layer.  Only,  while  in  the  plum  and 
cherry  this  fibrous  mass  becomes  succu- 
lent and  fills  with  sugary  juice,  in  the 
walnut  its  juice  is  bitter,  and  in  tho 
cocoanut  it  has  no  juice  at  all,  but  re- 


40  [98] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LARCIE. 


niaitiHa  more  niatlod  luycrof  dry  fil>roH. 
Anil  wliili!  the  thin  oxtcniiil  skin  ln'- 
cnnx's  |iiii'|il(!  in  tlic  plum  and  ri:«l  in  the 
clirny  as  tiw;  fruits  ripen,  it  rfUiaiuH 
prci'ii  and  iirown  i]i  tlio  ualinit  and 
Ofx'oaniit  all  tlii'ir  time.  Ncvcrtlick'ss, 
Darwinism  shows  us  liotli  hero  and  oIho- 
wlicre  that  tho  |»opular  distiiiL-tion  an- 
Bwers  to  H  real  dilTerenoo  of  oriijin  and 
function.  When  a  sced-vcsscI,  what- 
ever its  I»otani('al  structure,  surviveH  l»y 
dint  of  aftractinuj  animals,  it  always  ac- 
quires a  liri;j;ht-ei)lored  einelopo  and  a 
sweet  pul|)  ;  wd)ilc  it  usually  jxissesscs  a 
hard  seed-shell,  and  often  infuses  hitter 
essences  into  its  kernel.  On  tho  other 
hand,  when  a  seed-vessel  survives  by 
escMpiiiij;  the  notice  of  animals,  it  fjen- 
erally  has  a  sweet  and  pleasant  kernel, 
which  it  protects  l>y  a  liard  shell  and  an 
iiieons|)ictious  and  nauseous  envelope. 
If  the  kernel  itself  is  hitter,  as  with  the 
hoise-cliestnut,  the  need  for  disjxuise 
and  external  protection  is  nuudi  less- 
ened. But  the  Ix'st  illustration  of  all 
is  »-eeu  in  the  West  Indian  cashew-nut, 
wliieh  is  what  Alice  in  Wonderland 
■would  have  called  a  portmanteau  seed- 
vessel — a  fruit  and  a  nut  rolled  into  one. 
In  this  eurions  case,  the  stalk  swells  out 
into  a  hritjht-colorcd  and  juicy  mass, 
lookiuij;  somethinu;  like  a  pear,  hut  of 
course  containinix  no  seeds  ;  while  the 
nut  li'rows  out  from  its  end,  secured 
from  intrusion  hv  a  eoveiinij;  with  a 
pungent  juice,  which  hums  and  blisters 
the  skin  at  a  touch.  No  animal  except 
man  can  ever  successfully  tackle  the 
cashew-nut  itself  ;  but  by  catincj  the 
pear-like  stalk  other  animr.ls  ultimately 
aid  in  distributinij  tho  seed.  The 
cashew  thus  vicariously  sacrifices  its 
fruit-stem  for  the  sake  of  preserving  its 
nut. 

All  nature  is  a  eontinuons  pame  of 
cross  -  purposes.  Animals  perpetually 
outwit  plants,  and  plants  in  return  once 
more  outwit  animals.  Or,  to  drop  the 
metaphor,  those  animals  alone  survive 
which  manage  to  get  a  living  in  spite  of 
tl)(*  protections  adopted  by  plants  ;  and 
those  plants  alone  survive  whose  pecu- 
liarities hap|)en  successfully  to  defy  the 
attack  of  animals.  There  y on  have  llie 
Darwinian  Iliad  in  a  nutshell. 


XV  III. 

A    r'UKTTV    LAND-flllELl 

The  heavy  rains  which  havc^  (h)no  so 
much  harm  to  tlx;  stani'ingcorn  have  at 
least  iiad  theelTectof  making  the  coun- 
try look  greener  and  lovelier  than  I  have 
seen  it  hxdv  for  many  seasons.  There 
is  now  a  fresh  verdure  about  tin;  upland 
pastures  and  piiu!  woods  which  almost 
reminds  one  of  tlui  deej)  valleys  of  tho 
Ilernese  ( >berland  in  early  spring.  Last 
year's  continuous  wet  weather  gave  the 
^'eis  and  grass u miserable  draggled  ap- 
pearance ;  but  this  summer's  rain,  com- 
ing after  a  dry  spring,  has  brought  out 
all  the  foliage  in  unwonted  luxuriance  ; 
iind  everybody  (except  the  ISrilish 
farmer)  agrees  that  we  have  never  seen 
the  country  look  more  biautiful. 
Thouirh  the  year  is  now  .so  far  advanced, 
the  trees  are  still  as  green  as  in  spring- 
tide ;  and  the  meadows,  with  their  ricdi 
aftermath  springing  uj)  apace,  look 
almost  as  lush  and  fresh  as  they  did  in 
early  June.  Loncbuiers  who  i-et  away 
to  tlie  country  orthe  seasi(h.' this  month 
will  enjoy  an  unexpected  treat  in  seeing 
the  fields  as  they  ought  to  be  seen  a 
couple  of  months  sooner  in  the  season. 

Mere,  on  the  edge  of  the  down, 
where  1  liave  come  up  to  get  a  good 
blowing  from  the  clear  south-west 
l)reeze,  I  have  just  sat  down  to  rest  my- 
self a  while  and  to  admire  the  \iew,  and 
have  reverted  for  a  moment  to  my  old 
habit  of  snail  -  hunting.  Years  ago, 
when  evolution  was  an  infant — aii  in- 
fant much  troubled  by  the  complaints 
inseparable  from  infancy,  but  still  a 
sturdy  and  igorous  child,  destined  to 
outlive  and  outgrow  its  early  attacks — 
I  used  to  collect  slugs  and  snails,  from 
an  evolutionist  standpoint,  and  put  their 
remains  into  a  cabinet  ;  and  tc)  this  day 
1  seldom  go  out  for  a  walk  without  a 
few  pill-boxes  in  my  pocket,  in  ease  I 
should  happen  to  hit  upon  any  remaik- 
able  specimen.  Now  here  in  the  tall 
moss  which  straggles  over  an  old  heap 
of  stones  I  have  this  moment  lighted 
upon  a  beautifully  marked  shell  of  our 
prettiest  English  snail.  How  beautiful 
it  is  I  could  hardly  make  you  believe, 
unless  I  had  you  hero  and  could  show 


or 


TIIK   KVOLL'TIOMST  AT  LAIUIE. 


[!)»!  41 


vc  done  80 
»rii  liavo  at 
:; lliti  (rotin- 
liitii  I  have 

IS.       TIltTO 

tlio  upland 
I'll  aiiiiost 

CVS  of  (1)0 

iiii:.  Last 
r  iiavc  the 
:i;;'ti"l«'«i  ap- 

raiii,  coiii- 

■^>ll^•|lt  out 

Miriaiice  ; 

:'-     l>rit;sh 

over  seen 

iHautiful. 

iilvaiici'd, 

ill  spriii^- 

tlifir  rich 

ICC,     look 

lev  did  in 

irct  away 

liis  inontn 

t  in  seeing 

10   seen   u 

10  season, 
le  down, 
t  H  fi'ood 
out  li- west 
'  rest  niy- 
viow,  and 
i>  my  old 
■ars    aiio, 

: — ail    in- 

DUiplaiiits 

lit  still  a 

stilled   to 

sitlacks — 

Ills,  from 

put  their 

this  day 

ithoiit  a 

i'.i  case  I 

rciiiaik- 

thc  tall 

old  lieap 

t  lighted 

11  of  our 
lieautiful 

helieve, 
Id  show 


it  to  y'li  ;  for  iiiont  people  only  know 
the  two  or  three  ugly  hrown  or  liaiidcd 
snails  that  prey  upon  their  calihagcs  an<l 
lettuces,  and  have  no  notion  of  the 
lovely  shells  to  he  found  l>y  hunting 
aiiMiiiir  I'^iglish  (Hjpsos  and  under  the 
dead  Icav.'s  of  Scotch  hill-sides.  This 
cyc^lostoiiia,  however — I  nuist  troulih; 
you  with  a  Latin  name  for  once- -is  so 
r(!markai>ly  pretty,  with  its  graceful 
elongated  spiral  whorls,  and  its  deli- 
cately chiselled  frtftwork  tracery,  thai 
even  natiiialists  (who  have;  perhaps,  on 
the  whole,  less  sense  of  heaiity  than  any 
class  of  iiKui  I  know)  have  recognized 
its  loveliness  hy  giving  it  the  specific 
epithet  of  <7c//'f //.v.  It  is  liig  enough  foi 
anybody  ti>  notice  it,  being  about  the 
size  of  a  peii winkle  ;  and  its  exquisite 
stippled  eliasing  is  strongly  marked 
enough  to  be  |)ei'fectly  vislltle  to  the 
nakeil  eye.  l>ut  besides  its  beauty,  the 
cyclostoiii  I  has  a  strong  claim  u|)oii  our 
attention  because  of  its  curious  history. 
Long  ago,  in  the  infantile  days  of 
evolulioiiisjii,  I  often  womlercd  why 
people  made  coliections  on  such  an  irra- 
tional plan.  They  always  try  to  get 
what  they  call  the  most  typic'al  speci- 
mens, and  reject  all  those  which  arc 
doubtful  or  intermediate.  Hence  the 
dogma  of  the  fixity  of  species  becomes 
all  the  more  firmly  settled  in  their 
miiiils,  because  they  nuverattend  to  the 
existing  links  which  still  so  largely 
bridge  over  the  artificial  gaps  created 
by  our  nomenclature  between  kind  and 
kind.  1  went  to  work  on  the  opposite 
plan,  collecting  all  those  aberrant  indi- 
viduals which  mi>st  diverged  from  the 
specific  type.  In  this  way  I  managed 
to  make  some  series  so  continuous  that 
one  might  pass  over  specimens  of  three 
or  four  different  kinds,  arranged  in 
rows,  without  ever  being  able  to  say 
quite  clearly,  by  the  eye  alone,  where 
one  group  eiuled  and  the  next  group 
began.  Among  the  snails  such  an 
arrangement  is  peculiarly  easy  ;  for 
some  of  the  species  arc  very  indefinite, 
and  the  varieties  are  numerous  under 
each  species.  Nothing  can  give  one  so 
good  a  notion  of  the  plasticity  of  organ- 
ic forms  as  such  a  method.  The  end- 
less   varieties    and   intermediate   links 


which  exist  among  dogs  is  tlu^  nearest 
example  to  it  with  which  ordinary  ob- 
servers are  familiar. 

r»iit  tlu!  cyc|of,toma  is  a  snail  which 
introduces  one  to  still  dei-pcr  piestions. 
It  belongs  in  all  our  sciientific  classifica- 
tions to  the  group  of  luiig-breathing 
molliisks,  like  the  common  giirdeii  snail. 
Vet  it  has  one  remarkable  pceiiliatity  : 
it  possesses  an  operculum,  or  door  to 
its  shell,  like  that  of  the;  periwinkle. 
This  operculum  represents  among  the 
uiii\alvcs  the  under->licll  of  the  oyMer 
or  other  bivalves  ;  but  it  has  compleI(  ly 
disappeared  in  most  laml  and  fresh- 
water snails,  as  well  as  among  many 
marine  species.  The  fact  of  its  occur- 
rence in  the  cyclostoiiia  would  thus  be 
(piite  inexplicable  if  we  were  compelled 
to  regard  it  as  a  descendant  of  the  other 
luug-breathiiig  mollii>ks.  So  far  as  I 
know,  all  naturalists  have  till  lately 
always  so  regarded  it  ;  but  there  can  be 
very  little  doubt,  with  the  new  light 
east  upon  the  ijucstion  bv  harwini.^m, 
that  they  are  wrong.  There  exists  in 
all  our  ponds  and  rivers  another  snail, 
not  breathing  by  means  of  lungs,  but 
provided  with  gills,  known  as  ])aludiiia. 
This  paludina  has  a  door  to  its  shell, 
like  the  cyclostoma  ;  and  so,  indeed, 
have  all  its  allies.  Now,  strange  as  it 
sounds  to  say  so,  it  is  pretty  certain 
that  we  must  really  class  this  lung- 
breathing  ey(;lostoma  among  the  uill- 
breathers,  because  of  its  close  resem- 
blance to  the  paludina.  It  is,  in  fact, 
one  of  these  gill-breathing  pond-snails 
which  has  taken  to  living  on  dry  land, 
and  so  has  acquired  the  habit  of  pro- 
ducing lungs.  All  molluscan  lungs  are 
very  simple  :  they  consist  merely  of  a 
small  sac  or  hollow  behind  the  head, 
lined  with  blood-vessels  ;  and  every 
now  and  then  the  snail  opens  this  sac, 
allowing  the  air  to  get  in  and  out  by 
natural  change,  exactly  as  when  we  air 
a  room  by  opening  the  windows.  So 
primitive  a  mechanism  as  this  could  be 
easily  acquired  by  any  soft-bodied  ani- 
mal like  a  snail.  13esides,  we  have 
many  intermediate  links  between  the 
pond-snails  and  my  cyclostoma  here. 
There  are  some  species  which  live  in 
moist  moss,  or  the  beds  of  trickling 


42  [100] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LAllUE. 


-s4 


i 


n 


ftrcMiiH.  Tlicro  nr<^  otliors  vlili-li  l'" 
f.ntiicr  from  tlic  water,  ami  Hpend  tlii-ir 
(iavH  in  (laiM|)  Ljrass.  And  tlu'rc  are  yet 
otlnrn  wliiili  liavo  taken  to  a  wlinllv 
terrestrial  e\i>*ten('e  ill  woods  or  mead- 
ows and  under  lii-aps  ef  wtones.  All 
of  tlieni  auree  with  the,  >oii(|-Miails  in 
li.'HJiij;  an  o|ier<'iiliiiii,  and  .  o  difft  r  from 
the  ordiiiaiy  land  and  rivci-stiails,  the 
months  of  whose  siiells  are  <|nite  un- 
protected. Thus  land-snails  havo  two 
sepMiate  oriiiins — one  lai'ju'e  jxroiip  (in- 
cludinjx  the  ji'arden-siiail)  heint;  de- 
rived from  the  common  fn  sli-water 
niolliisks,  while  another  much  smaller 
pronp  (including  tlio  eyeloi-toina)  is 
deii\ed  from  the  operculated  pond- 
snails. 

How  is  it,  then,  that  naturalists  had 
80  lonjj;  overlooked  thi-*  distiin'tion  i 
Simply  hecaiise  their  artificial  classiti- 
catioii  is  iias((l  entirely  upon  tlio  nature 
of  the  l.ieathinu;  apparatus.  Uut,  as 
Mr.  \N  allace  has  well  pointed  out.  ol»- 
vions  and  important  functional  dilfer- 
cnci's  iire  of  far  less  value  in  traciiii; 
relationship  than  insii;nili(!aiit  and  un- 
important structural  (h'tails.  Any 
water-snail  may  have  to  take  to  a  ter- 
restrial life  if  tile  ponds  in  wiii(di  it  lives 
arc  liable  to  ilry  up  during  warm 
weather.  Tlios((  individuals  alone  will 
tlieii  survive  which  <lisplay  a  tendency 
to  oxyo'enize  their  hlood  hy  some  rudi- 
nieiitary  form  of  lun<;.  Hence  the 
possession  of  luniks  is  nottlu!  mark  of  a 
real  <iviiealoi;'ici:l  class,  liut  u  mere 
necessary  result  of  a  terrestrial  cxist- 
cn''V  (^n  ♦!'•>  other  hand,  the  posses- 
sion of  an  operculum,  unimportant  as 
it  may  ho  to  the  life  of  the  animal,  is  a 
good  test  of  i(!lati(»nsliip  hy  descent. 
All  snails  which  take  to  livin<^  on  land, 
whatever  their  oriiiiiial  form,  will  ac- 
quire lunijs  ;  hut  an  operculated  snail 
will  retain  its  operculum,  and  so  hear 
witness  to  its  aiieostry  ;  while  a  snail 
which  is  not  operculated  will  of  course 
show  no  tendency  to  develop  siudi  a 
etructiiro,  and  so  will  o(jually  give  a 
true  testimony  as  to  its  origin.  In 
sliort,  the  less  functionally  useful  any 
organ  is,  the  liigher  is  its  value  as  a 
gauge  of  its  owner's  podigrc",  like  a 
Jiourhun  nose  or  an  Austrian  lip. 


XIX. 

DOOS    AM)    MASTEKH. 

PiioiiAiu.v  the  most  forhun  and  ab- 
ject cri'atiiie  to  hi;  seen  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  is  a  masterless  dog.  Slouch- 
ing aii<l  sliidiing  along,  crin:;ing  to 
every  human  lieing  it  (diaiiccs  to  meet, 
running  away  with  its  tail  hctwceii  its 
legs  fioiii  smaller  doj^s  whum  under 
other  eircuiiisti  nci's  it  would  accost 
With  a  grutf  who-the-dickciis-are-you 
soit  of  giowl — it  forms  the  veiy  picture 
of  utter  humiliation  and  self-alias;  nicnt. 
(iiip  and  I  have  just  come  across  Mich 
a  lost  specimen  of  stray  dogliood,  try- 
ing to  liiid  his  way  hack  to  his  homo 
across  the  lields — I  fancy  he  hi  longs  to 
a  travelling  show  which  left  the  village 
yesterday — and  it  is  (piitc!  icfn  ^hing  to 
watch  the  air  of  supeiior  wiMloiii  and 
calm  hut  mute  compassioinitciiess  with 
whi(di  (!ri|>  casts  his  eye  sith  long  upon 
that  wretched  masterless  \aiiiaiit,  and 
passes  him  hy  without  even  a  nod. 
Ill'  looks  up  to  me  complacently  as  ho 
trots  along  hy  my  side,  and  seems  to  .^^ay 
with  his  eye,  "  Poor  iVllow  I  he's  lost 
his  master,  j'ou  know — careless  dog 
that  he  is  !"  1  helieve  the  lesson  has 
hai.  <i  good  moral  effect  ii[)on  (irip's 
own  conduct,  too  ;  for  he  has  now 
spent  ten  whole  minutes  well  within  my 
sight,  and  has  resisted  the  most  t(  mpt- 
iiig  solicitations  to  ratting  and  rahhiting 
held  out  hy  half  a  dozen  holes  and 
biiirows  in  the  hedge-wall  as  wo  go 
along. 

'J'liis  total  dependence  of  dous  upon 
a  iiia>tcr  is  a  very  inten  stii\«>;  cvi,ii([)lo 
of  the  growth  of  inherited  instiiK-ts. 
The  oriuiual  dog,  who  was  a  wolf  or 
something  very  like  it,  CDuld  not  have 
had  any  such  artificial  feeling.  He  was 
an  independent,  self  -  reliant  animal, 
quite  well  able  to  look  after  himself  on 
the  boundless  plains  of  Central  Europe 
or  High  Asia.  But  at.  least  as  early  as 
the.  days  of  the  Danish  shell-mounds, 
perhaps  thousands  of  years  earlier,  man 
had  learned  to  tame  the  dog  and  to 
employ  him  as  a  friend  or  servant  for 
his  own  purposes.  Those  dogs  which 
best  served  the  ends  of  man  were  pre- 
served and  increased  ;  those  which  fol- 


n   nnd  nb- 

('  tiirc  of 

Sloiifli- 

iii:;;in<i;  to 

i    to   lIK'Ct, 

'tween  its 
mil  iiiiilcr 
III  iiceost 
is-mc-\  oil 
'I y  i''n;tiiro 
li;is'.  meiit. 
TOSS  Miell 
liootl,  Iry- 
liis  lioino 
III  I  onus  to 
lie  villiiije 
n  •^llin^■  to 
siloiii  and 
•nt'ss  with 
\i)\\<x  upon 
;riint,  and 
•n  !i  nod. 
illy  as  ho 
Ills  to  say 

lin's  lost 
el(  ss  (log 
essi.'ii    lias 

)ii    (iiiji's 

lias  now 
Yitliiii  my 
ist  t(  iiipt- 

lalibiting 
iok-s  and 
as  wu    go 

)L>'s  iijion 

evi.nnilo 

instincts. 

I  wolf  or 
lint  liavc 

lie  was 
:  animal, 
imself  on 

I I  Europe 
s  early  as 

iiioi'.nds, 
ier,  man 
r  and  to 
rvant  for 
gs  which 
,vorc  pre- 
hicli  fol- 


TllK   ICVOIAIIIOMST   AT    LAltOK. 


101 j  48 


lowi"!  too  mifli  tlioir  own  ori'^Inil  in- 
Rtiints  wcri!  ik'stroyed  or  at  Iciol  di>- 
coiir.iu't.!  I.  Tlio  siiviigi!  hiiiilor  would  \n> 
VIMS'  apt  to  lliii.;  his  siono  a\<!  iit  tln' 
hIxhII  .it'  a  hxiiul  which  triiMl  t  >  eat  tli'' 
gam  •  ho  h.iil  hrotight  down  with  his 
lliiit-tipp>'d  arrow,  instcail  of  retries  iiiu,' 
it  :  he  would  l)(!  most  liUely  to  keep 
carefully  mil  iwA  wull  on  thMrcfiisu  of 
his  own  iiumIs  the;  IioiiikI  which  aidcil 
liiiii  most  ill  stirprisin.;,  killing,  ami 
Heciiring  his  ipiarry.  Thus  tlior.*  spranj; 
up  lu'twceii  mm  and  the  do^  a  mutual 
nil  I  ever-iiKU'casing  synipalhy  which  on 
the  part  of  tlii!  dcpen.U'iil  creaturo  has 
at  last  h.icom  1  orgaiiiziid  into  an  in- 
h(U'ited  iiMtiiii:t.  If  wo  oiild  only 
tlirca  I  the  lal»v  rintli  of  a  dog's  luaiii. 
we  should  find  somewhorit  in  it  a  group 
of  convlited  iierve-coiinections  answer- 
ing to  this  univiM'sal  hihit  of  his  race  ; 
and  tlio  grou[>  in  (picstion  would  he 
quite  without  any  analogous  me(;liani«'m 
ill  the  I. lain  of  the  ■iiieestial  wolf.  As 
truly  as  thu  wing  of  the  Itird  is  ada[>ted 
to  its  congenital  insiinct  of  tlyiiin",  as 
truly  as  the  ncrsDUs  system  of  the  bee 
is  iiilapted  to  iu  congenital  iii>tiiict  jf 
honeyci  iiih  haiMiiig,  just  so  tiuly  is  the 
brain  ol  the  dog  ada[>tod  to  its  now 
congenital  instinct  of  fi»llowiiig  and 
obeying  a  mister.  The  Iribit  of  altaeh- 
ing  its.ilf  to  a  [>articular  hum  111  b.-iiig  is 
nowadays  iiiijrainud  in  ihj  nerves  of  the 
nio'lerii  d  )g  jast  as  really,  though  not 
quite  so  deeply,  as  the  habit  of  running 
or  biting  is  ingrained  in  its  bones  and 
muscles.  Kvory  d  >g  is  born  into  tlu 
world  with  a  certain  iniierited  structure 
of  limits,  sensii-organs,  and  brain  :  and 
this  iiih';rited  structure  governs  all  its 
future  a>.'lioiis,  both  bodily  and  iiiMital. 
It  seeks  a  mtister  because  it  is  endowed 
with  master-seeking  brain  organs  ;  it  is 
dissatisfied  until  it  tinds  one,  because  its 
native  functions  can  have  free  play  in 
no  other  way.  Among  a  few  dogs,  like 
those  of  Constantinople,  the  instinct 
may  liave  died  out  by  disuse,  as  the 
eyes  of  cave  animals  have  atrophied  for 
want  of  light  ;  but  when  a  dog  has 
once  been  brought  up  from  puj)pyhooil 
nndor  a  master,  the  instinct  is  fully  ami 
freelv  developed,  and  the  masterless 
coii'lition    is    thenceforth   for   him   a 


'  thwarting  and  disappointing  of  all  Ins 
I  iialural  feelings  and   atlecuoiis. 

Not  only  have  dogs  us  a  class  ai'ipiir- 
ed  a  ^pei'ial  instinct  with  reiraril  to 
humanity  iteiieially,  but  paiticuhir 
i  lireeds  (d'  dogs  have  iicipiiivil  particular 
instincts  with  rci;ard  t  •  ecriaiu  indi- 
vidual ai'ts.  Nobody  >loulit-<  that  tlio 
muscles  of  u  greyhound  arc  spi cially 
correlateil  to  the  acts  of  runmiiL;  and 
leaping  ;  or  that  the  imisele>.  ol'  a  bull- 
dot;  are  H|>eeially  correlateil  to  the  act 
»f  tin'Iiting.  Tliewhili!  external  form 
of  th.'se  creatures  h;is  been  modilied  by 
111  Ill's  selective  lu'tioii  for  u  delibcrato 
purpose  :  wi;  breed,  as  we  say,  from 
the  dog  with  the  best  points.  Hut 
besides  being  abh;  to  modify  the  visible 
and  outer  structure  of  the  anim  il,  wo 
aie  also  able  to  modify,  by  indirect  in- 
dications, the  hidden  and  inner  struc- 
ture of  the  brain.  We  (dioose  the  best 
ratter  among  our  terrieis,  the  best 
pointer,  ntriever,  or  setter  a'lioiig  oilier 
breeds,  to  become  the  parent-,  of  our 
future  stock.  We  thus  half  niicoii. 
scioiisly  select  [larticiiiar  ty[tcs  of  ner- 
V  )us  system  in  preference  to  others. 
()iicc  ujMiii  a  time  we  used  even  to  rear 
a  race  of  dogs  with  a  stniiin'e  iiisiinet 
for  turning  the  spit  in  our  kitchens  ; 
and  to  this  ilay  the  ('ubans  rear  blood- 
hounds with  a  natural  taste  for  hunting 
<l(»wn  the  trail  of  runaway  nei^roes. 
Now,  everybody  knows  that  you  cannot 
teach  one  sort  of  dog  the  kind  of  tricks 
j  which  come  by  instinct  ti»  a  dillereiit 
soit.  No  amount  of  instiuction  will 
I  induce  a  well  bred  teriier  to  retrieve 
I  your  handkerchiof  :  he  insists  ii[»on 
I  worrying  it  instead.  So  no  amount  of 
instruction  will  induce  a  well-bred  re- 
triever to  worry  a  rat  :  he  brings  it 
''ini'crlv  to  your  feet,  as  if  it  was  a  dead 
[»artridLre.  The  reason  is  obvious,  be- 
cause no  one  wouhl  breed  from  a  ro- 
trievcM'  which  wcjrried  or  from  a  terrier 
wdiich  treated  its  natural  prey  as  if  it 
were  a  stick.  Thus  the  brain  of  each 
kind  is  hereditarily  supplied  with  cer- 
tain nervous  connections  wanting  in  the 
l)rain  of  other  kinds.  We  need  no 
more  doubt  the  reality  of  the  material 
distinction  in  the  brain  than  we  need 
doubt  it  in  the  limbs  and  jaws  of  the 


4-t  |102j 


TIIK   EVOM'TIONIST   AT   LAIME. 


(l(n'yli«)iiii(l  ntul  the  ImlMo!;.  TlntMc 
wliii  liavf  \vuti'liii(|  closely  the  (litTiTftit 
rnt'OH  (»f  iiM'ii  can  lianlly  licsitatc  to  lie- 
lime  that  soiiicthiiii^aiialo^ronH  cviHts  in 
our  own  case.  W'liile  llie  liii^hcwt  ty|M's 
are,  ii.H  Mr.  IIitImtI  Spencer  well  puts 
it,  to  Hoine  extent  "  oriianically  moral  " 
and  >tructnrally  intelli;;;ent,  the  lowest 
types  lire  coMjxenitally  deticient.  A 
lliropeiin  child  learns  to  read  almost  i)y 
nature  (t'l.r  I)u;r|,('rry  was  essentially 
ri^rlit  after  all),  wliiic  u  Nclcpo  child 
learns  to  read  liy  painful  personal  e<- 
perii'Mce.  Ami  savajxeH  [»rouijht  to 
Europe  and  "  civilize<l  "  foryears  often 
rctiiri^  at  last  with  joy  to  their  nativo 
lionu',  cast  oil  their  clothes  and  tiieir 
outor  voneerinir,  'ind  tako  oneo  iiioro 
to  the  only  lifo  for  which  their  ner- 
vouH  oriiaiii/ation  naturally  tits  thorn. 
*'  What  is  hreil  in  th((  hone,"  says  tiic 
wise  old  provurh,  "  will  out  iu  the 
bloo.l." 


XX. 

BLACKCOCK. 

.Tt'ST  at  the  present  moment  the  poor 
black  LTi'ouse  are  ii;eiierallv  havini;  a  hot 
tim(!  of  it.  After  their  <|uiet  sprini; 
and  summer  they  suddenly  find  their 
heath-clad  wastes  inva<lc(l  l»y  ii  strauijc^ 
cpidi'Miic  of  men,  do^s,  and  hideous 
Bhootini;  iiiipl(uuents  ;  and  Ixunjjf  as  yet 
but  youiiL?  and  inex[»enenced,  tlu^y  nre 
falling-  victims  hy  the  thousand  to  their 
youthful  hahit  of  cliiiiiiMi;  closely  for 
protection  to  tiie  treacherous  reed-heds. 
A  little  later  in  the  season,  those  of 
them  that  survive  will  have  learned 
more  wary  ways  :  they  will  {»ack  !iuu)ni; 
the  juniper  ihiekets,  and  heeouu!  as 
cautious  on  the  approaeh  of  perfidious 
man  as  their  eunnin;jf  cousins,  the  red 
grouse  of  the  Scottish  moo"s.  liut  so 
far  youthful  innocenoo  prevails  ;  no 
sentiiu'ls  as  yet  are  set  to  watch  for  the 
tMstant  uleam  of  metal,  and  no  fore- 
BhailowiiiLT  of  man's  evil  intent  disturl)s 
their  miiuls  as  they  feed  in  fancied 
security  ujton  the  dry  seeds  of  the  marsh 
plants  in  their  favorite  sed;;es. 

The  ijreat  families  of  the  pheasants 
and  |>Hrtridi>;es,  in  which  the  blackcock 
must   be   included,    may    be    roughly 


diviiled  into  two  main  <livisionii  ^o  far 
as  rcLTards  their  appearance  and  general 
haliits.  The  first  class  (tonsisls  of 
splctididly  colored  and  eonspicuouH 
hirds,  such  as  the  peacock,  the  ),Mlden 
pheasant,  and  the  tra;{opan  ;  and  these 
are,  almost  witluuit  exception,  ori^'inally 
juny:le-liirils  of  tropical  or  sul'-trt>pical 
lands,  thoU]i;h  a  few  of  them  have;  Iteen 
acclimatiiced  or  domesticated  in  tem- 
perate countries.  They  live  in  re;^ions 
where  they  have  few  mitural  cuemiea, 
aixl  where  they  are  little  exposed  t<) 
th(!  atta(d{sof  num.  Most  of  them  feed 
more  or  lens  upon  fruits  and  bright- 
colored  fooil-stulTs,  and  they  are  prob- 
ably every  one  of  them  polynamous  in 
their  habits.  Thus  we  can  hardly  doubt 
that  the  male  birds,  which  alone  possess 
tlu!  brilliant  plumaire  of  their  kind, 
owe  their  beauty  to  the  selective  pref- 
erence of  their  mates  ;  and  that  the 
taste  thus  dis[>layed  has  been  aroused 
by  their  relation  to  their  speitially  ^ay 
anti  bri;iht  natural  surroiintiinjjs.  The 
most  lovely  species  of  pheasants  are 
found  amon^  the  forests  of  the  Hima- 
layas and  the  Malay  Archipelan'o,  with 
their  ^orii;eous  fruits  and  fiowers  ami 
their  ex(iuisite  insects.  Kven  in  Kng- 
land  our  naturalize<l  Oriental  phcasanta 
still  delieht  in  feedin:f  upon  i.lju'k- 
beiries,  sloes,  haws,  ami  the  pretty  fruit 
of  the  honeysuckle  and  the  holly  ;  while 
our  dinju;ier  partridtjesand  cjrouse  subsist 
rather  upon  heather,  fxrain,  and  small 
secids.  Since  there  must  always  bo 
originally  nearly  as  many  cocks  as  hens 
in  each  brood,  it  will  follow  that  only 
the  handscunest  or  most  attractive  in 
the  polygamous  species  will  succeed  in 
attractiuLf  to  them  a  harem  ;  and  as 
beauty  and  strenjith  usually  u'o  liand  in 
hand,  they  will  also  be  the  conquerors 
in  those  battles  which  are  universal  with 
all  poly}i;amists  in  the  animal  world. 
Thus  we  account  for  the  strikinfj;  and 
conspicuous  difference  between  the  pea- 
cock and  the  peahen,  or  between  the 
two  sexes  in  the  pheasant,  the  turkey, 
and  the  domestic  fowl. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  second  class 
consists  of  those  birds  which  are  exposed 
to  the  hostility  of  many  wild  animals, 
and.  more  especially  of  man.      These 


Til  10   KVUH  IIONIST   AT   l.AimK. 


LI(i:)J  a 


r»tl(i  so  fiir 
1(1  ^fiicral 

IIHiHlH  of 
MIHIlicllOllH 

III'  ^(i|<l(;tl 
itiul  tlicsu 
oriL'iiiiillv 
il'-liopii-al 
liav(>  licun 
I  in  t«>in- 
iti  n>;;ioim 

(nicniiuH, 
Yposcil  to 
;li('iii  feed 
1(1  Iti'i^lit- 
iire  jH'ob- 
i;)iiiioiis  in 
rdl}'  doubt 
lie  possess 
icir  kind, 
'live  prcf- 

tliat  tlic 
I  iirousod 
eiallv  ^ny 
ij;h.  *  Tlio 
isaiits  are 

e  llinia- 
au;*),  with 
wers  mid 
I  in  Kiig- 
|)li«';isant8 
n  i'lack- 
etty  fruit 
y  ;  while 
ISO  subsist 

lid  small 
I  ways   bo 

s  as  bens 
tliat  only 
active  in 
iicceed  in 
and  as 
J  hand  in 
)iujueror9 
iTsal  with 
world, 
king  and 

the  pca- 
ween  the 
}  turkey, 

and  class 

3  exposed 

animals, 

These 


kindn,  typiri('(l  by  the  reil  i;ri»usu,   par- 
tritlu;f<,   <|ii,iils,   ami   giiinca-fowN,   an- 
pMierally  dingy  in  hue,  with  a  tcndetiey 
to  peppcr-and-Hnh.   in   their    pbimagit  ; 
and     tiiity    usually    display    very    little 
ditTerence  between  the  sexes,  both  cocks 
aihl  heiiH  being   eitlored   and    feathered 
niiicli  aliki>.    In  short,  they  are  protect- 
ively ditsigned,  while  the  tirst  elasH  are 
attractive.     'I'heir  plumage  resenddos  as 
nearly  aH  possibb;  the  ground  on  which  i 
they  sit  or  tiie   covert   in   whicb   they  | 
nkulk.     They  an;  thus  (-nabliMl  t(»  escape  ' 
the  notiiu)  (d'  their  natural  enemies,  the 
birds  of  prey,  from  wlntse  ravages  they  i 
HUtTer  far  nion^  in  a  stat(M>f  nature  than  | 
from  any  otlnsr  (tause.      We  may  take 
the  ptarmigans  as  the  most  typical  ex- 
ample of  this    elans    of    birds  ;  for    in 
summer    their     zigzagged     black-and- 
brown  attire  harmonizes  admirably  «it.h 
the  patcln^s  (d"  faiL'.'  heath  and  soil  upon  j 
the  moiinl!iir>-side,  as  every  s[»ortsiiian 
well  knows  ;   while  in  the  winter  their  | 
pure  white  plinnage  can  scarcely  bc^  dis- 
tinguislhid  from  the  snow  in  which  they  ' 
lie  huddled  and  crouching  during  tin;  j 
colder  months.      Even    in   the   brillianl 
8po(Mes,  Mr.  l)arwin   and   Mr.  Walhu-e 
have  pointed  out  that  tlie  ornamental  i 
colors  and  crest  are  never  hand(Ml  down 
to  female  desei^ndants  when  the  habits' 
of  nesting  are  such  that  their  motluirs  i 
would  be  exposed  to   (bmger  by   their 
conspiciiousness      during      incubation. 
Speaking  broadly,   only    those  female 
birds  which   build   in   hollow   trees  or 
make;  covered  nests  have  bright  hues  at 
all   eipial   to   those    of    the   males.      A 
female  bird  nesting  in  the   open  would 
bo  cut  off  if  it  showed  any  tendency  to 
reproduce  the   brilliant  coloring  of  its 
male  relations. 

Now  the  blackcock  occupies  to  some 
extent  an  intermediate  position  between 
these  two  types  of  pheasant  life,  though 
it  inclines  on  the  whole  to  that  first  de- 
scribed. It  is  a  polygamous  bird,  and 
it  differs  most  conspicuously  in  plumage 
from  its  consort,  the  graydien,  as  may 
be  seen  from  the  very  names  b"  which 
they  are  each  familiarly  knc  .u.  Yet, 
though  the  blackcock  is  handsome 
enough,  and  shows  evident  marks  of 
selective  preference  on  the  part  of  his 


ancestral  h-ns,  this  preference  has  not 
cNcrtcd  itself  largely  in  the  dircdiuii  of 
brii;ht  color,  and  that  for  two  reasonii. 
In  the  first  plaee  the  blackcock  (loiH  not 
feed  upon  brilli.int  foo(|--.tiitTs,  but  up- 
on small  bog-berries,  hard  seeds,  and 
young  shoots  of  heather,  and  it  is  prob. 
able  that  an  a'sthctic  taste  for  pure  and 
dazzling  hues  is  almost  contliieil  to  those 
creatures  which,  like  biitteitlii's,  lium- 
mingbirds,  and  parrots,  seek  their  live- 
lihooil  amoni;  beautiful  fruits  or  flowers, 
in  tiie  Hceoiid  place,  reij,  yellow,  or 
orange  ornaments  would  rcmlcr  the 
blackcock  too  conspi(!uous  a  m  irk  for 
the  hawk,  the  falcon,  or  tin-  wcipoua 
(d*  man  ;  for  we  must  reiiieiiilier  that 
only  those  blackc<)cks  survive  from  year 
to  year  and  hand  down  their  peculiari- 
ties to  descendants  which  suiceed  in 
evading  the  talons  of  birds  (d"  prey  or 
the  small-shot  td"  sportsmen,  l-'eeiling 
as  they  do  on  tin;  open,  they  are  not 
pi'otcclcrl,  like  junL;!(!  -  birds,  by  tho 
shade  of  trees.  Thus  any  bird  which 
showed  any  marked  tendency  to  develop 
brighter  «»r  more  .'onspicuous  pliiinago 
would  almost  infallibly  fall  a  victim  to 
one  or  other  (»f  iiis  many  foes  ;  and 
however  iiiucii  his  beauty  might  possibly 
charm  his  mates  (supposing  them  for 
the  moment  to  possess  a  taste  for 
color),  ho  would  have  no  ehance  of 
transmitting  it  to  a  future  giuieration. 
Accordingly,  the  decoration  of  tho 
blackcock  is  confined  to  glossy  plumage 
and  a  few  ornamental  tail-feathers. 
The  gray-hen  herself  still  retains  the 
dull  and  imitative  coloring  of  the  grouse 
race  generally  ;  and  as  for  the  (Mxsks, 
even  if  a  fair  percentage  of  them  is 
annually  cut  off  through  their  compara- 
tive conspicuousness  as  marks,  their 
loss  is  less  felt  than  it  would  be  in  a 
monogamous  community.  Every  spring 
the  blackcock  hold  a  sort  of  assembly 
or  court  of  love,  at  which  the  pairing 
for  the  year  takes  place.  The  cocks 
resort  to  certain  open  and  recognized 
:*pots,  and  there  invite  the  gray-hens  by 
their  calls,  a  little  duelling  going  on 
meanwhile.  Daring  these  meetings 
they  show  off  their  beauty  with  great 
emulation,  after  the  fashion  with  which 
wo  arc  all  familiar  in  the  case  of  the 


40  [104 J 


TIIK   KVOI.r  nOMST    AT   IMiOK. 


pt'Mi'M.k  ;     '.111  wlu'n  lln-y  Imvo  i;iiin»'il 

tlM>     ,-Mi|i|iililltiii||     i>(      tlii'ir    lllllti"^     lllhl 

niiiiii*'!  or  iliivi'ii  iiwiiy  their  rJMiU, 
tli<  \  iiii'''  vvitli  llicir  rt  xpi'i'tivr  tiinii- 
litH,       rii|'.»|Hlll.lttl\,  like     III. ml    jMil\ir- 

•niixtM,  thfV  iiiitki*  imd  fiitliiMH,  Ifiivitii; 
til"  <'iiif  of  flicir  voiiiiij;  iiliiioHi  ftitin-ly 
to  til"  lu'iM.  Aci'oniiiiif  to  ill"  \iT.i- 
eioiit  iircoiiiit  of  AitciiiiiH  Wunl,  tlll^ 
giciif  pHi'^liiiiM  ^^tlllli;  liiiiHt'lf  |ijitli('t- 
ic.'illv  ili'oi'iiiitcil  ii|iiiii  tli<>  ilillii'iilty  of 
extcliilili'^  liJM  |)MI')'iil;il  iitTcrtloilH  to  1 11 1 
ciiil'M'i'ii.  'I'lif  iiii|i(>rioiis  Mai-ki'ock 
B4>('iiH  to  liiltor  iiiiiltr  lliu  Hiiitiu  Hc'titi- 
liictit.il  (linuil\iititai;i>. 


xxr. 

IUNI>\VKi:i). 

Noi  tlio  l"»'*t  liomitifiil  Jiinoni;  our 
TiMlivf  uiiil  tlowcrn  am  inaiiy  of  tliouc 
wllicll  L'l'ovv,  too  ofti'M  tllllli'f(|»"i,  iijolli; 
t\\{\  waysiili!  of  every  eoiiiit>y-roai|. 
Till'  In  .i'4;e-l>or'lereil  liijfliway  ».'  wiiicli 
I  ail)  walking;  to-day,  to  tako  my  let- 
tors  to  iIk!  villa'^'e  post,  is  lionjeretl  on 
either  sidu  with  siieli  a  iirofiision  of 
color  as  «)ne  may  never  see  etjiialled  diir- 
in'4  ininy  years'  e\perieneo  of  tropieal 
or  siil>  -  tropieal  lands.  .Iaiiiai<'a  and 
CVylon  could  [irodiii'i'  nothing;  so  luill- 
iant  as  this  taii;4leil  mass  of  L;oi'.«.e,  and 
thistle,  and  Si.  Jolin's-wort,  ami  een- 
taury,  iiiteniiinLrled  with  th(!  litlio  and 
whiti.iiiiiLj  sprays  of  half-openeil  elem- 
atis.  And  lieie,  on  thu  yerv  ed;^('  of 
the  road,  half  smothered  in  its  jjjray 
dust,  I  have  picked  a  pretty  little  con- 
volvulus lilossom,  with  H  fiv  buried 
head-foremf)st  in  its  piidc  belf ;  and  I 
am  c.iiiyinix  them  hoth  alonj;  with  me 
fls  I  u;o,  for  I'ontemplation  and  study. 
For  this  little  tlower,  the  lesser  hind- 
weed,  is  rich  in  hints  as  to  the  straneje 
ways  ill  wlii<'h  Natures  decks  herself 
with  so  much  waste  loveliness,  whose 
meanint^  can  only  ho  fully  read  by  the 
eyes  of  man,  the  latest  comer  amonu 
her  (diildren.  The  old  school  of  think- 
ers iiuaiiiiied  that  beauty  was  given  to 
flowers  and  insects  for  the  sake  of  man 
alone  :  it  would  not,  perhaps,  be  too 
much  to  say  that,  if  the  new  school  be 
right,  the  beauty  is  not  in  the  flowers 
and  insects  themselves  at  all,  but  is  read 


into  them  by  the  fnncv  of  the  hiimiin 

riU't*.       To  liie    lii,tt<'lll\    the    MoiM    |H  II 

little  beiiiiiifiil  ;  to  tin*  fariiidaboiir  it 
is  oiiU  a  llillc  iiio!i>  bcaiilltiil  ;  I  lit  to 
the  ciilti\alrd  iiiiiii  or  the  aili'-t  it  Ia 
lovely  in  every  cloud  and  ^lladl•w,  in 
e\cry  tiii\   l.lo«Hom  and  pii««iiit'  liul. 

The  oiHi  r  face  (if  the  biiMivxid,  ilio 
exterior  of  the  cnp,  *>o  to  hpiak,  is 
prettily  maiked  with  five  d;iik  iM«»it- 
red  bands,  lietween  which  the  n  mnindcr 
of  the  corolla  is  a  pale  pinkywhilu  in 
hue.  N'olhini;  coiihi  be  ^ilnpler  and 
prettier  than  this  altciii.'ttion  of  dark 
and  liifht  belts  ;  but  how  ih  it  pro- 
duced .'     Melely  thus.      '{'he  ci.|i\  o|\  nlllH 

blossom  in  till  bu<l  is  twi>tt<l  or  con- 
torted round  and  round,  part  of  ihe  cup 
beiic^  folded  inside,  while  the  livo 
joints  of  the  corolla  are  folded  (l|.l^ide, 
I  mu'-h  after  tht;  fashion  of  an  uiniuclla 
when  rolled  up.  And  just  as  the  bitH 
of  the  umbrella  which  are  exposed 
when  it  is  foldefl  become  faded  in 
color,  Ko  the  bits  (»f  the  bindweed  blos- 
som  which   arc  outermost  in   the  bud 

b uiie  iimre  deeply  oxidi/ed  than   the 

I  other  parts,  and  acipiire  a  rnsset-rcd 
I  hue.  The  belted  appcanince  whiidi 
thus  results  is  really  as  accidental,  if  I 
may  use  that  unphilosuphical  ex|iiession, 
as  the  belted  appearance'  of  the  old  um- 
brella, or  the  wrinkles  caused  by  the 
waves  on  the  sea-sands.  'Ihe  tlower 
happciiecl  to  be  folded  so,  and  j^cl  i-ol- 
ored,  or  <li.sci)lored,  acctudiiiirly.  lUit 
when  11  man  comes  to  look  at  it,  he  ree- 
oi^ni/es  in  the  alternation  of  colors  and 
the  symmetrical  arrang*  nu  lit  one  of 
those  elements  of  beauty  with  wliicdi  ho 
is  f;imiliar  in  the  handicraft  of  his  own 
kind,  lie  reads  an  intention  into  this 
result  of  natural  causes,  and  pcrsfuiilies 
Nature  us  though  she  woik((i  with  an 
a'sthetic  design  in  view,  just  as  a  deco- 
rative artist  works  when  he  similarly 
alternates  colors  or  arranges  symmetri- 
cal and  radial  Hgures  on  a  cup  or  other 
piece  of  human  pottery.  The  beauty 
is  not  in  the  flower  itself  ;  it  is  in  the 
eye  which  sees  and  the  brain  which  rec- 
ognizes the  intellectual  order  and  per- 
fection of  the  work. 

I  turn  the  bindweed  blossom  mouth 
upward,  and  there  I  see  that  these  rus- 


•rt 

rurf 
pill' 


TIIK  EVuhUTloNIHr  Al'   IMHiK. 


[  loAJ  -IT 


I'    hitrnnn 

IH  III      |H    II 

itlitiii  r   it 

;  I  ht   fo 

iii>t  il    in 

iiiImm.   in 

i:  Ml. I. 

A(  I  (I,    tllO 

>|>Mik,  iit 
\<  lll>»t  t- 
I  III  lihdiT 

^>liili'  ill 
|>li'r    iitid 

of  iliii'k 
s  it   pro- 

ll\<il\  lllllH 
IT    CO?!. 

t  llic  nip 

tlic     tlvo 

(M.r»i(l(>, 

iiMiliM'lla 

tll(>     liJtH 

('\|l()S('(l 

r.'idi  «1    in 

i'r«l  liloB- 

tlic  lnul 

lllllll    lliu 

•lls^*l't-rl'^l 
('  wliirli 
iitnl,  if  1 
[itcj-fion, 
'  old  iiui- 
I  I'V  tlio 
ic  Howor 
I  ;i'(.t  roi- 
ly. J '.lit 
t,  lio  ror;- 
dIoim  arid 

OIK'    of 

ivliicli  lio 
liis  own 
into  tliia 
•rsonifies 
with  an 
<  ji  dcoo- 
siiiiiliirly 
"iiiiiu'tn- 
or  other 
;  beauty 
is  in  the 
licli  rec- 
md  per- 

I  moutb 
lese  ru8- 


•rt  timrk-*,  llioiii;h  piilcr  on  tin'  iiitnr 
riiifai-c,  ^tlll  hliow  faintly  lliruii;;!i  the 
piii'xV  wliitit  rornjiii.  TliiH  |irodi'ffM  iin 
('lT>  I'l  iii)i  iiidilvc  thilt  of  u  di'liciiti>  hlit'li 
riiiiii  o,  will)  iti  il.iiiity  craditimiH  of 
iiriiit-triiii-|iiiri'iit  wliiti)  iiiid  iiilt'i'fiiHitt ; 
pill!;.  I'-iil  till*  itiiirr  rtTcrt  ciin  Ixt  no 
iimrf  diKi^iicd  with  an  ••>»•  to  lu'iiiity 
than  till*  oiitir  oiui  wan  ;  mid  tho  very 
tci'iii.H  in  wliii  II  I  tliiiilv  of  it,  I'lfinly 
bIiow  that  my  nciixt^  of  itn  |c»\('lini'»H  it 
lai';;t  ly  <l''iiv(  d  from  nmipatiHoii  with 
hiiiiiati  liindicraft.  A  farmer  would 
m-i'  ill  tlic  foiivolviiliM  iiotliiii;{  Imt  ii 
llHi  li'HH  weed  ;  a  ciillivati'd  ( yo  nith  in 
it  jiiHt  iiH  niiii'Ii  IIS  itrt  natiiri!  permits  it 
to  H,'(>,  I  look  eloser,  and  oliservi;  tliat 
thei(t  aro  also  tliiii  lines  Miniiiii:^  fioiii 
tlio  (Uri'iiinfereiKH!  to  the  ct'iitie,  niid< 
way    lictvveeli    the    dark     lielt-*.        'I'liesc 

liiii's,  uliii'li  ad<l  greatly  »o  tlio  heaiit) 
of  lli(>  flower,  l.y  marking;  it  out  into 
Zones,  an-  also  (l.ie  to  ilu'  foldiii'^  in  tin- 
l>ii  I  ;  tli<'\  'iri  the  iriin  r  angles  of  the 
fold-*,  just  as  tlmdark  heltsare  tin;  over- 
lii|ipiii\xedL;es  uf  the  outer  lllinles.  I5iit, 
in  addiii'iii  to  the  minor  [)eaiity  of  these 
little  details,  thero  in  the jjfeiii'ral  iieaiity 
of  the  eiip  IIS  u  whole,  wlii(di  also  calls 
for  explanalion.  Its  shape,  is  as  u;rai;e. 
fill  as  that  of  any  (Jreidi  or  ICtriisean 
vase,  as  swellini;  and  as  Himply  heaiiti- 
fiil  !H  any  heaker.  Oan  I  aecoimt  for 
thesi!  peeiiliaritiim  on  niero  natural 
proniids  as  well  as  for  tlu;  others  i  J 
sonieliow  fancy  i  can. 

Till!  Iiiiidwe(ul  is  dcsfipndcd  from 
Rome  cailier  ancestors  which  liinl  five 
BC]iarale  petals,  instead  of  asiiiL^lc!  fused 
and  (rirciil'ir  (aip.  I.ut  in  thu  convol- 
vulus family,  as  in  many  others,  iheie 
five  petals  have  joined  into  a  continuous 
rim  or  howl,  and  tlu;  marks  on  the 
blossom  wliero  it  was  folded  in  the  biid 
still  answer  to  tho  five  petals.  In  many 
plants  you  can  sec  the  pointed  edjjjes  of 
the  former  distinct  flower-rays  iw  five 

f)roje('tioiis,  thouLdi  their  lower  parts 
lave  coalesced  into  a  bell-shaped  or 
tubular  blossom,  as  in  the  common 
hareludl.  How  this  comes  to  pass  we 
can  easily  understand  if  we  watch  an 
unopened  fuchsia  ;  for  there  the  four 
briij;ht  -  colored  sepals  remain  joine«l 
together  till  the  bud  is  ready  to  open, 


and  then  opllt  u\»tvx  i\  Hue  niiiKid  out 
from  the  \cry  tii^t.  I:i  the  plastic  binl 
cotidiiioii  il  it  vt-ry  cHMy  for  pints  i)»iiallf 
<4i'parati>  i>o  to  urow  out  i  i  iiiii  ui  «vitu 
one  another.  1  do  n>it  m  an  that  Kcpa< 
lato  picccM  iictiially  crow  |o';;cihcr,  but 
that  pieces  which  Usually  -^low  di'<liiiet 
HoineliiiicH  ^row  uiiitrd  tioin  the  >cry 
llr»t.  Now,  four  or  iKc  petals,  ladially 
a'rani.{cd,  in  tliem«tl\»s  prodiire  t!iat 
kind  of  Hynimetry  which  m m,  with  bin 
iiilellectiial  love  for  order  nil  I  d>  liiiito 
patterns,  idwavs  liinU  beaiitii'iil.  I>ut 
ihe  H\  miiictry  in  the  tlowcr  dimply  re- 
sults from  the  fact  that  a  sinji'  whorl 
of  leaves  has  i^rowii  into  (his  particular 
shape,  while  the  outer  an  I  inner  wlnuU 
have  i;rown  into  other  shaprn  ;  and 
every  hiicIi  whoil  always  and  neeisHiirily 
pieHciits  us  with  ail  example  «if  the  kind 
of  hymiiictry  whieh  we  so  niiiili  ml- 
iniro.  ALCaiii,  w  hcii  the  petals  forming 
a  whorl  coalesce,  they  liiii»t,  of  cmirse, 
[irodiice  a  more  or  les-«  ic^ul  ir  circle. 
If  the  points  of  the  petals  remain  as 
projections,  then  we  ^it  a  ciide  with 
'.  atidvkcd  edijes,  as  in  the  lilv  of  tllO 
valley  ;  if  tinsy  do  not  project,  then  wo 
i;;et  a  simple  circular  liiii,  as  in  the  bind- 
weed.  All  till  lovely  shapes  of  bell- 
blo<sonis  are  Himply  due  to  tlii-  natural 
coali'scence  of  four,  live,  or  six  petals  ; 
and  this  (ioalescciice  is  ii^ain  due  to 
an  increascnl  cerlainty  of  fcitilization 
si'ciired  for  tlie  plant  by  the  better 
adaptation  to  insect  visits.  Similarly, 
we  know  that  the  colors  of  th"  corolla 
have  been  acijuireil  as  a  means  of  ren- 
tlerinu;  the  flower  conspicuous  to  the 
i-yesof  bcesor  butterllies  ;  and  the  hues 
which  s(»  prove  attractive  to  insects  are 
of  ths  saiiv^  sort  .vhich  arouse  pleasiir- 
nMe  stimulatioti  in  our  own  nerves. 
Thus  the  whole  loveliness  of  flowers  is 
in  the  last  resort  dependint  upon  all 
kinds  of  accidental  causes — causes,  that 
is  to  say,  into  which  the  deliberate  de- 
sii;n  of  the  production  of  beautiful 
effects  did  not  enter  as  a  distinct  factor. 
Those  parts  of  nature  which  are  of  such 
a  sort  as  to  arrflise  in  us  certain  feelinu^s 
we  call  beautiful  ;  and  those  parts 
which  are  of  such  a  sort  as  to  arouse  in 
ns  the  opposite  feelln^js  we  call  uijly. 
But  the  beauty  and  the  ugliness  arc  not 


4H  lUHII 


TIIK   KVoI.ITHJMHr   AT   I.AllOK. 


ftiirf-*  ttf  tln>  tliiiii;*  ;  till')'  »r«t  m««ri'ly 
miiiitii  iiiimIi'huI'  ri'Uitntiii^  Koiiiit  luiinn^ 
tlii'ir  ititriloiii"*.  \VlM>n>M>r  in  iiiittiro 
wt'  flinl  |nir»»  c'liltir,  nyiiiiin'triful  form, 
lllni  ihliiritlt'  \:nii'ty«if  |iJillirii,  \si'  ilil- 
iitfiiM'  to  uiirnt'lvi'4  tliiit  iiitliiri'  «l«>i«i((iiM 
tliii  oltji'i't  lit  Im<  liciiiitifiil.  Wlit'ii  we 
triifi'  ilii''«i>  |M'i'iiliMititw  to  ilii'ii  iiri^in, 

IllkWt'U'r,    »<>    liml     tllUt    Cltrll    nf    llii'lll 
OWi'H  its  orciirniii'i'    toHilllc  »<Iii'ri,'il  fiH'l 

ill  till'  liixiory  of  tlut  oliji'd  ;    mid  wt< 
fin*  fori'iMl  ii>  rotiflit(|(>  thiit  tlio  imtiMii  I 
of  iiiffiiiiniiiil  i|i'-.i';;ri  liii«  ln'i  II  ri'iitl  into' 
it  l>y  liiiiiiiiii  iiii.'ilii^'ioM.      All   iiiiliirti  in 
iM'tiiitifiil,  iiikI  iiiitft  iM'itiitifiil  fitr  tliimi>  I 
in  wli'iiri  till'    Mrii<«i'   of    ln'iiiity    is   iiiiwr, , 
iiiirlily  ili'Vr|i)|ic(l  ;  litit  it  in  imt  liiiiiiti-  ^ 
ful    at  nil    r\»T[tt,   t'»   tlMmt>    wliom-    owu 
cyi-H  iitid  riiiiitioiiH  arc  fitted  t«>  porcitivi 
iU  lu'aiitv. 


XXII. 
OM  cnHNHii  vurrn. 
1  AM  Iviiii;  1)11  my  liack  in  thn  Kiin* 
uliiiic.  close  to  flic  edm«  of  a  tTeiit  l>ro- 
keli  |ire<i|iice,  lii^nide  ii  eliiliilieriliij  ( 'olll- 
IhIi  tlHliiiio;  vill;iu;(t.  lii  front  of  me  is 
the  Hea,  liliier  tliaii  I  have  Heeii  it  niiiee 
hiHt  I  lay  in  like  ftiNhion  a  few  montlis 
ajjo  on  llie  Hcli'iKlose  Hlo|ieH  of  llir  Muil- 
rctteM  at  Ilyi'-re-*,  mid  looked  away  HrTtmn  i 
the  jilain  to  the  iuivi|p[iled  Mediterr.inc-  ! 
nn  ami  the  SluchathH  of  the  old  I'lio- 
crpiin  nuTehantmeii.  On  cither  hand' 
riso  d.'irk  elilT-i  »if  horiiMende  and  t»er-  j 
pentine,  veathend  al'ove  hy  wind  and 
rain,  ami  mnoothed  helow  hy  tliu  ceasc- 
h'ss  dash i Hi;  of  the  winter  waves.  I'p 
to  the  limit  of  the  hreakers  the  hard 
rock  !«  polished  like  Ktryplian  syeiiito  ; 
but  heyoml  tliiit  point  it  is  Hssiired  hy 
disinteirratioii  and  riehly  eovered  with  a 
dap[>le(l  coat  of  i;ray  and  yellow  lichen. 
The  slow  action  of  th«  water,  always 
beatim;  aixainst  the  solid  wall  of  «'rystal- 
line  rock,  has  eaten  ont  a  thousand  such 
little  hays  all  aloiiu  this  coast,  each 
bounded  I<y  lonj;  headlands,  whoso 
points  havo  been  worn  into  fantastic 
pinnaelos,  or  scsvered  from  tho  main 
mass  as  precipitous  islrts,  tho  favorite 
roHtinif-placo  of  i^ulls  and  cormorants. 
No  fjrander  coast  scenery  can  i»o  found 
anywhere  in  the  southern  half  of  Great 
Britain. 


Vet  when  I  turn  inland  I  mco  that  alt 
thi*  beauty  Uit*  l><  en  prodiii.  d  by  tho 
mertt  iltteriietioii  of  the  nea  and  till)  bar* 
fell  moor*  of  the  interior.  Nothini; 
could  lie  Ihtller  or  liiiile  dexolate  than 
tho  noiihtry  hUomi*  Neawiini  e»earpiti(>tit 

yivCK  lioe  to    tliemi    ronialitie    coVe<«    atid 

t)vramidal  rocky  iolctt.  It  MtnicheN 
away  for  inilen  in  a  level   iiplmd   wiiMto, 

onl\  redeemed  from  cmiipli  If  li.'iireii* 
iios  b>  the  low  ulnitJ^I  11114  bii'.liiH  of  the 
tlwarf  fiir/e,  wIiomh  golden  hloH«oni  in 
how  interHpersi  '  with  piiiiile  patches  of 
lini;  or  the  paler  ,  Mik  lh»«iis  of  tho 
CorniHli  hk'iith.  Here,  then,  I  can  M>0 
beauty  in  nature  actually  beiriiiinn^  to 
be.  1  can  trai'e  the  oriuiii  of  all  theHu 
little  bays  from  Hinall  rills  >\l'ich  havo 
Worn  tlielll^elves  jjori^e  -  like  valleyn 
thi'oiii;h  the  hanl  i^'iieoiis  rock,  or  uImo 
from  ilssiires  liiially  ^'i\  iiitX  rii«e  to  sea- 
caves,  like  the  one  into  which  I  rowed 
this  iiiorninu;  for  my  early  s«iiM.  The 
waves  pemtiattj  for  acoiipleof  liiimlred 
yards  into  tin*  bowels  of  th"  rock, 
hemmed  in  by  walls  and  roof  of  dark 
si'r[)eiitine,  with  its  interlaciiiL;  veins  of 
^^rceii  and  red  bearitiv(  witiios  hiill  to 
its  onco  molten  condition  ;  and  at 
IriiLflh  in  most  cases  they  proiliico  a 
blow-hole  at  the  top,  communicating 
with  the  open  air  above,  eitliir  becauco 
the  tissuie  there  crops  up  to  tlii'  siiiface, 
or  else  throiij^h  the  a;ienc\' of  percola- 
tion. At  last,  the  roof  falls  in  ;  thn 
lioiililers  are  carried  away  by  the  waves; 
and  we  j^et  a  lonj;  and  narn)W  cov<',  still 
bounded  on  eitlier  side  by  tall  clitfs, 
whose  siimmils  the  air  and  rainlall  slow- 
ly wear  away  into  jaj^LCed  and  extpiisito 
shapes.  Yet  in  nil  this  wi'  see  nothing 
but  the  natural  play  of  cause  and  eUt'ct ; 
we  attribute  the  beauty  of  the  sceno 
merely  t(»  the  accitleiital  result  of  inevi- 
table laws  ;  wo  feel  no  necessity  for 
callinji  in  tho  aid  of  any  iindfrlying 
H'sthetic,  intention  on  the  part'of  the  sea, 
or  the  rock,  or  the  creeping;  lichen,  in 
order  to  acc«)unt  for  the  lovelinesn 
which  wo  find  in  the  tinished  picture. 
Tho  winds  and  tho  waves  carved  the 
coast  into  these  varied  shapes  by  force 
of  blind  currents  working;  on  liidden 
veins  of  harder  or  softer  crystal  ;  and 
we  happen  tu  tind  tho  result  beautiful, 


TBI  RVOI.UTIO!«HT  AT  LAHOE 


(107]  40 


thai  nil 

l>y  th« 

ititt  lmr> 

tti<  tliiiii 
itrpiiH'iil 
vi'H  mill 

irrtrhf* 

1     WllHtO, 

Imrri'li- 
•A  of  thn 
i'<»i>iii  U 
a«lii'H  of 

4     of   tllO 

ciiri  m'C 
iiiiiii;   to 

till    tllCHU 

Irli    liiivi> 

viilli'yn 

,  nr  v\m 

tl)     KCfi- 

I  rowftl 
tn.       Tlu( 

liiin<InMl 
I"     rock, 

of   (lurk 

vciiM  of 

i«    hlill  to 

mill    lit 

>ii|co  It 
ii<'jitin^ 
X  riiui^o 

lllflU'C, 

Mrri>lii- 

III  ;  tlin 

\Mivo8 ; 

)Vt',  Htill 
•  litfH, 

II  hiow- 
\(|iiisit« 
iiuliiiiig 
itToct ; 
{'  Hccne 
if  iiiovi- 
^ity  for 
U'l'lying 
the  Hca, 
•lu'U,  in 
(Vi'lincss 
pii'ture. 
■rvod  the 
by  force 

,al  ;  and 
uutiful, 


1n*t  M  WA  hnpprn  to  dml  Ilit<  inlanil 
evul,  (lull,  mill  iit<ly.  Tlic  <<iii|l«>w  vnrl- 
nty  of  tliii  Olio  (liarniii  iik,  whilu  tho  iin- 
broktm   iiioiioiony  tif  tli«  other  wvArio* 

Itlltl   rH|MlU   UN, 

llorit  on  thu  rJilT  I  pi<*k  up  n  pretty  f<*m 
Rud  n  hloMoiiiiii^  hfiid  of  tii<<  Htittiiiiti 
Niiiiill — though  HO  NWi'nta  tlowor  doNcrvt-M 
M  uuttor  tiaiiiiv  Thii«  furn,  too,  in  lovoly  in 
itH  way,  with  itM  Itrani'hin^  Ifatli'tit  anil  iin 
rii'h  KloMy-i^roi'ti  hiiu.  Vul  it  owhh  iln 
nhapo  jiiHt  iiH  truly  to  tlio  lialanrn  of  ox- 
turnal  and  intt<riial  forrcM  ii<*tin({  upon  it 
MH  it  dooH  tho  (lorniAh  roaMt-ltiii<.  How 
cotnvii  it  thun  that  in  thu  onu  ciino  wo 
inatinotivoly  ro^nrd  tlm  huuuty  im  ai*i>i- 
dontal,  whilo  in  tho  oth«^r  wo  mit  it 
down  to  a  dclihcrato  ii'Hthotic  intent  i 
i  think  liooauMu,  in  tho  tlntt  oiiMo,  wo 
can  actually  mui  tho  forcoii  at  work, 
whilo  in  tho  Hucond  thoy  arc  no  ininutu 
and  HO  gradual  in  thoir  itction  an  to 
VHcapo  tho  notico  of  all  hut  trained  oh- 
M^rvum.     Thin  forn  ^rowH  in  tho  ithapo 

'  I  Hflo,  hocaiiMi  itH  nncoHtorH  havo 
ti  >wly  inouldod  into  hucIi  a  form 
ur  iho  whoh)  i^ruup  of  circunintancoH 
directly  or  indiructly  aSocting  thuin  in 
all  thoir  pant  life  ;  and  tho  ^urni  of  thu 
coniplox  form  thus  produced  wan  im- 
prosHod  hy  the  parent  plant  upon  tho 
Hporu  from  which  thin  individual  fern 
took  its  birth.  Over  yonder  I  see  a  ffroat 
dock-leaf  ;  it  grows  tall  and  rank  anovo 
all  other  plants,  and  is  able  to  spread 
itself  boldly  to  the  light  on  every  side. 
It  has  abundance  of  sunshine  as  a  mo- 
tive-powor  of  growth,  and  abundance  of 
air  from  which  to  extract  tho  carbon  that 
it  needs.  Hence  it  and  all  its  ancestors 
have  spread  their  leaves  equally  on  every 
side,  and  formed  largo  Hat  undivided 
blades.  Leaves  such  as  these  are  com- 
mon enough  ;  but  nobody  thinks  of 
calling  them  pretty.  Their  want  of 
minute  subdivision,  their  monotonous 
outline,  their  dull  surface,  all  make 
them  ugly  in  our  eves,  just  as  the 
flatness  of  tho  Cornish  plain  makes  it 
also  ugly  to  us,  Where  symmetry  is 
slightly  marked  and  variety  wanting,  as 
in  the  cabbage  leaf,  the  mullein,  and 
the  burdock,  wo  see  little  or  nothing 
to  admire.  On  the  other  hand,  ferns 
gOQorally  grow  in  hodgerowa  or  thick- 


«»tii,  where  »nnlight  U  mnrh  Intrmiptrd 
l>y  nth<>r  plntitH,  and  whom  air  i«  Hcant), 
tiioMt  of  itN  carbon  boitig  (•xtrnctod  by 
nt'ighborini;  plants  which  Iravo  but  littln 
fur  ono  Hhothcr'H  nrod*.  Ilvnco  you 
may  notice  that  nioat  plants  growing 
iindor  such  oirriiiiiittMni>i>i«  havo  l«>avi*N 
ininiitely  Hiibdividi'd,  «<>  an  to  ratrh 
"in'h  stray  gleams  of  sunlight  and  siu'li 
tloutitig  partii'li'H  of  carbonic  arid  aM 
liiippcn  to  piiNN  thoir  wiiy.  L«>ok  into 
tho  next  tangled  and  overgrown  liedgo- 
row  which  you  happen  to  piiss,  and  yoii 
will  seo  that  aliiioNl  all  itn  IraveN  are  of 
thischaraeter  ;  and  whem  they  are  othor> 
wiito  the   anomaly  usually  adiiiits  of  an 


iksy  explanation.  Of  course  tho  sliapen 
of  plants  uro  mostly  duo  to  their  normal 
ana  UHual  circumstances,  and  are  com- 
parativitly  littlo  iiitluenced  by  tho  acci- 
dental Niirroiindings  of  individuals  ; 
ami  so  when  a  forn  of  such  a  sort  hap- 
pens to  grow  like  this  i  ' '•  on  tho  open, 
It  still  retains  the  form  iiiiprossvd  upon 
it  by  tho  life  of  its  ancestors.  Now,  it 
is  tho  striking  combination  of  syniiiietry 
and  variety  in  tho  fern,  together  with 
vivid  green  coloring,  which  makes  us 
admire  it  so  much.  Nut  only  is  tho 
frond  as  a  whole  symmetrical,  but  each 
frondlet  and  each  division  of  tho  frond- 
let  is  separately  symmetrical  as  well. 
This  delicate  minuteness  of  workman- 
ship, as  we  call  it,  reminds  us  of  similar 
human  products — of  fine  lace,  of  deli- 
cate tracery,  of  skilful  filigree  or  en- 
graving. Almost  all  the  green  Icavoa 
which  we  a<lmire  are  noticeable,  more 
or  less,  for  the  same  effects  as  in  the 
case  of  maple,  parsley,  horse-cheHtnut, 
and  vine.  It  is  true,  mere  glo«sy  green- 
ness may,  and  often  does,  make  up  for 
the  want  of  variety,  as  we  seo  in  tho 
arum,  holly,  laurel,  and  hart's-tongue 
fern  ;  but  the  leaves  which  we  admire 
most  of  all  are  those  which,  like  maiden- 
hair, are  both  exouisitely  grceu  and 
delicately  designed  in  shape.  So  that, 
in  the  last  resort,  tho  beauty  of  leaves, 
like  the  beauty  of  coast  scenery,  is  real- 
ly due  to  tho  constant  interaction  of  a 
vast  number  of  natural  laws,  not  to  any 
distinct  aesthetic  intention  on  the  part 
of  Nature. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  pretty  pink 


f  1   ' 


60  [106] 


THE  EVOLUTIONIST  AT  LABOE. 


sqnill  reminds  me  that  somi-conBcioua 
ie«thetic  dusign  in  aniuialet  has  some- 
thing  to  do  with  the  production  of 
beauty  in  nature — at  least,  in  a  few 
cascH.  Just  as  a  flower  garden  has 
been  intentionally  produced  by  man,  so 
flowers  have  been  unconsciously  pro- 
duced by  insects.  As  a  rule,  all  bright 
red,  blue,  or  orange  in  nature  (except 
in  the  rare  Cise  of  gems)  is  duo  to  ani> 


mal  selection,  either  of  flowers,  fmits, 
or  mates.  Thus  we  may  say  that 
beauty  in  th?  inorganic  world  is  always 
accidental  ;  but  in  the  organic  world  it  i 
is  sometimes  accidental  and  sometimes 
designed.  A  waterfall  is  a  mere  result 
of  geological  and  geographical  causes, 
but  a  bluebell  or  a  butterfly  is  partly 
the  result  of  a  more  or  leu  deliberate 
sesthetic  chrice.  i 


A  BALLADE  OP  EVOLUTION. 


In  the  mnd  of  the  Cambrian  main 

Did  oar  earlieat  uncestor  dive  : 
From  it  Hhapeleeti  albumiuous  grain 

yfe  mortals  our  being  derive. 
Be  could  split  himself  up  into  five, 

Or  roll  himself  round  like  a  ball  ; 
For  the  fittest  will  always  survive, 

While  the  weakliest  go  to  the  wall. 

As  an  active  ascidian  again 
Fresh  forms  he  began  to  oontriTfc, 

Till  he  grew  to  a  fish  with  a  brain. 
And  brought  forth  a  mammal  alive. 


With  his  rivals  he  next  had  to  strive. 
To  woo  him  a  mate  and  a  thrall  ; 

So  the  handsomest  managed  to  wive. 
While  the  ugliest  went  to  the  wall. 

At  length  as  an  ape  he  was  fain 

The  nuts  of  the  forest  to  rive  ; 
Till  he  took  to  the  low- lying  plain, 

And  proceeded  his  fellow  to  knive. 
Thus  did  cannibal  men  first  arrive, 

One  another  to  swallow  and  maul ; 
And  the  strongest  continued  to  thrive. 

While  the  weakliest  went  to  the  wall. 


Envoy. 


Prince,  in  our  civilized  Live, 
Now  money's  the  measure  of  all ; 

And  the  wealthy  in  coaches  can  drive. 
While  the  needier  go  to  the  wall. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  MlcroMopie  Bnint 2 

n.  A  Wayside  Berry      5 

III.  In  Bummer  Fields 7 

IV.  A  Sprig  of  Water  Crowfoot 9 

V.  Sings  and  Snails 13 

VI.  A  Study  of  Bones 14 

VII.  Blue  Hud 1« 

VIII.  Cuckoo-Pint 18 

IS.  Berries  and  Berries 21 

X.  Distant  Relations 28 

il.  Among  the  Heather 85 

XU.  Specklad  Trout «I 


CHAFTIR  rA«S 

XIII.  Dodder  and  Broonrap*..., 89 

XIV   Dog's  Mercnrjr  and  Flantain 81 

XV.  Butterily  Psychology 88 

XVI.  Butterfly  JCsthetics 86 

XVH.  The  Origin  of  Walnuts ST 

XVIII.  A  Pretty  Land-UheU 40 

XIX.  Dora  and  Masters 48 

XX.  Blackcock 44 

XXI.  Bindweed 40 

XXr.  On  ComlBh  Cliffs.  .  48 

A  BaJacle  of  Evolalloa M> 


flowers,  frnita, 
may  say  that 
rorld  U  always 
Tganic  world  it 
and  Bometimoa 
s  a  mere  result 
aphical  cauHeo, 
tertly  ia  partly 
lesa  deliberate 


tt  bad  to  strive, 
and  -A  thrall  ; 
anaged  to  wive, 
ent  to  the  wall. 

e  was  fain 
■est  to  rive ; 
wlying  plain, 
fellow  to  knive. 
en  first  arrive, 
Ulow  and  maul ; 
Qtinued  to  thrive, 
b  went  to  the  wall. 


TiMM 

flantiin*.'.'. « 

BS 

••   . 88 

'" ::::::•::::  S 

4!i 

44 

■     46 

•;::.:: 48 

•••  ■■  so 


